His Walls
by J-leeDixon
Summary: People build up walls, not to keep others out, but to see who cares enough to break them down. Truer words have never been spoken where Daryl Dixon was concerned. He never expected anyone to care enough, until someone did. Starts out AU with 20 yr old Daryl, but from Ch. 22 on we'll be in ZA-world. M-rating for smut, language, adult topics, descriptions of abuse & attempted rape.
1. Chapter 1

_Sometimes, I hate, the life, I made  
Everything's wrong every time  
Pushing on I can't escape  
Everything that comes my way  
Is haunting me taking its sweet time _

**25 May 1998**

"Bayanne! Come on, get a move on. I need to take this out to the truck right now."

"Unff!" Bayanne Moore released a very unladylike grunt as she dropped the newly packaged and labeled carpet pad roll on one of the pallets she had packed full of the rolls during her shift. She bit her lip and kept herself from rolling her eyes at Gary, the forklift operator, as she threw her whole weight against the roll to push it into place the rest of the way. "Here, there you go." she shouted over the noise of the factory and took a couple of steps backwards while she pulled off her work gloves. Having placed the last roll of the order on the pallet signaled the end of her shift and she made her way to the locker room to get her bag. Her body was aching all over and she had the urge to just drop to the floor and crawl into the locker room, but she held her head high and squared her shoulders, not letting all those men around her see her weaknesses. She was one of the only women working down here and getting respect was not easy, even if she was able to hold her own and lift the heavy carpet rolls that weighed almost as much as she did (with difficulty, yes, but hey, she was still able to get the job done). But on top of being a woman, she was also only 18 years old; still a kid in the eyes of the guys around here and they had a hard time taking 'the kid' seriously.

"Oh how I hate the morning shift around here." she muttered when she had reached the too brightly lit confines of the locker room. She put her hand on the back of her neck and slowly moved her head in a circular motion, trying to stretch out the knots and kinks before she grabbed her bag from inside her locker. She slammed the metal door shut again, slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder and hurriedly left the carpet factory. She had just enough time to make herself some lunch and eat before her shift at her second job started. Thankfully she just lived two blocks away from the factory, maybe she would even be able to squeeze in a quick shower while the rice boiled on the stove.

That was how most of her days went. Usually she would get up in the morning, wash up, drink some water and head to the little convenience store she worked at. There she would have her morning coffee in the break room, where it was for free, and maybe have a granola bar if she had been able to snag one from the shelves. Then she worked her shift before she would head straight to the carpet factory four times a week and work a shift there. The job as material handler was physically tough, but it paid well for being part-time. The manager hadn't wanted to hire her, because of her small physique, but she had promised him than she was stronger than she looked. He had tested her, letting her lift a couple of the carpet rolls she would have to pack up for delivery and she had proved to him, that she was able to do it. He'd still had his doubts about letting an 18 year old girl work this job that included working in hazardous and unpleasant conditions due to airborne particles, lots of noise and the moving of mechanical parts, but she had been so eager and he had desperately needed somebody, so he'd caved.

After her shift at the factory she always walked straight home, had a meager dinner of rice or pasta with ketchup, or a PB&amp;J, if she was too hungry to wait, then she soaked her body in a bath with Epsom salt until she felt better and was able to fall asleep on her pull-out couch in front of the TV, only to repeat her daily routine the next day. She wasn't so much okay with her routine, as she was used to it. Humans were creatures of habit and this was how things were. She had accepted it for the time being, because it all served a bigger purpose. So she tried to stay positive and was content with how things were going, except for the days when her shifts got moved around and she ended up having to go to the factory in the morning and then drag her aching and tired body to the convenience store for the late shift without being able to let her body recuperate and rest a little. Those days just plain sucked. If it happened, she was so tired at night, that she was barely able to think straight, let alone, hold herself up and walk home. She pretty much collapsed on her couch as soon as she set foot in her 1-bedroom apartment and fell asleep right away, still dressed.

Bayanne knew that tonight would be no different: Hell, she was ready to fall asleep right now. She hated the late shift at the store. The crowd got more and more unpleasant, the later the hour. Also, walking home late at night in the dark wasn't very high on her list of favorite things to do, since the store was farther from her apartment than the factory, but there was nothing she could do about it today. She needed the money, every penny counted and she gladly sacrificed everything she could in order to save up her hard-earned cash. Today after her meal of bland rice with generic brand ketchup, she treated herself to a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup she had stolen from work the day before. She wasn't proud of it, but sometimes it was necessary, and the little treat kept her motivated to keep living and pushing on, on days like these. She savored the rich taste of chocolate and peanut butter, closing her eyes in a moment of bliss before she carefully folded up the packaging and placed the remaining Peanut Butter Cup in the fridge for another day. Looking at the clock she put her still damp hair up in a ponytail, took a deep breath, squared her shoulders once more and left for her shift at the store.

* * *

"Ooooohh lookit here, we're bein' treated to the sweet little church mouse today, Clint." the dirty middle-aged man whose beer gut peeked out from his too tight and too short hole-y wife beater leered and grinned at her with yellow teeth. "How you doin' sweet cheeks?"

Bayanne swallowed down the bile that had started to rise in her throat, but she wasn't able to force a smile for Gus and his friend Clint. One of the many reasons why she hated being here at night, if she worked the morning shift she was able to avoid the drunkards for the most part. "That all?" she pointed towards the six-pack of domestic beer on the counter, while she nervously fingered the cross necklace around her neck with her other hand.

"Gimme a pack of Marlboro's, honey butt,... and why don't ya pop one of those buttons, girly? Might be a generous tip in it for you." Clint winked and made a show of licking his lips suggestively, having Bayanne shudder in response. She yet had to get used to men acting like this. She was still young, just out of high school, and before she had been on her own, she had made her money just by babysitting and not by selling creepy old men alcohol and cigarettes.

"I'm a cashier, not a waitress." she said in what she hoped was a neutral tone. She didn't want to antagonize the men, but she also didn't want to encourage them. When she was about to turn around to grab the pack of smokes, she heard the chimes above the door jingle, announcing that somebody else was entering the store.

_'Please not another boozer.' _she thought as her gaze shot towards the door. She was relieved when she recognized her next customer, and shot him a quick nod in greeting. _'Thank God, just Daryl.'_

"That'll be $12.42, please." she announced after ringing up their purchases.

"Aw, you ain't fun at all tonight, girly. Give some old men a little lovin', woulda made it worth your while." Gus grinned and let his fingertips graze over her fingers when he gave her the money. Bay tried hard not to cringe, but on the inside she was shaking, because the guys made her uncomfortable. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of showing them that they were able to get to her, though, so she stood up a little straighter and ignored Gus' words as she handed him back his change.

"There you go, thank you for your business and have a great night." she managed the hint of a smile and hoped to God that the guys would just leave.

"Coulda been a great night, mousey... " Gus tried again, but Clint had given up.

"Ah come on, let's go. Ain't nothin' gonna happen with her. Little virgin's too stuck up to open her legs for a good man." Clint scowled. "Bitches, all of 'em." he muttered and ushered Gus out of the store.

Bay exhaled deeply in relief now that they were gone. Her shift was almost over and she hoped that Daryl would be her last customer for today. Her eyes sought him out and she saw him standing by the cereal. He came in often and she knew that Daryl wouldn't cause any trouble, she knew him from school. Well, not exactly 'knew'-knew, but they knew who the other one was, it was a small world after all and there was always a friend of a friend of a friend who knew everybody. They had been introduced at a party a couple of years ago, one of her first parties ever, he had nodded coolly at her, while she had smiled like an imbecile at the cute slightly older boy. Daryl had been two grades ahead of her in high school and had been with a group of troublemakers. Bayanne had seen him raise hell with them, but most of the time he'd been the quiet one in the group and had kept himself in the background. He had never been mean to her or anything, so she had no reason to assume that he was a bad guy. Peer pressure was hard to go up against and most didn't even try. She herself hadn't been exempt from that, so who was she to judge. She had no idea what he was up to these days, he had dropped out shortly before the end of his senior year and she hadn't seen him for a long time until she had started working after graduating last summer.

"Hey." he mumbled when he had stepped up to the register. He shook his head to the side to get his shaggy, blond hair out of his eyes and counted the money in his hands.

"Just the Lucky Charms?" she asked politely with a little smile, even though he wasn't looking at her in that moment.

"Uuhhmmm... yeah." he mumbled with a furrowed brow as he focused on the coins in his palm.

"That'll be $2.98, pl-"

"Yeah, I know. Here." he interrupted her and handed her the money. He finally looked up at her and chewed on his bottom lip while he did it. "Off soon?" he surprised himself by asking. He never talked to her really. It must have been a spontaneous reaction to his thoughts. He had thought about how it was almost 10 pm and how it's been dark for some time. He didn't know where exactly she lived, but he knew it wasn't in the immediate neighborhood. He'd seen her walk home often during the day, which let him know that she didn't own a car. Maybe that was why he encountered her during his morning trips to the store most of the time, because she took the day shift so she wouldn't have to walk home in the dark.

"I'm off in about half an hour." she replied as she closed the drawer of the register. "Do you need the receipt?"

"Nah, toss it." he looked like hesitant to leave for a moment, but he got over it quickly. " Bye." he grabbed his box of cereal and left the little store rather abruptly, barely giving Bayanne a chance to utter a goodbye in return.

She shrugged her shoulders and crumpled up his receipt in her fist and tossed it into the trash can by the door to the break room. Just a little bit longer until she would close up and go home, throw herself on her couch and fall into a deep blissful sleep. To keep herself awake for the last half hour, she grabbed a broom and started sweeping the floors of the handful of aisles. However, her sweeping didn't just serve the purpose of staying occupied and keeping the store clean. By now she new all the blind spots of the security camera and she used it to her advantage and swiped some small items and stuffed them into her pockets quickly. She felt guilty for stealing, she had never done it before she had been responsible for herself, but she couldn't afford to pay for little luxuries like candy, but she also couldn't live off of rice and pasta all the time. Karma would get her one day, she was sure of it, but she pushed that thought to the back of her mind for now.

She got one more client who bought a soda and some chewing gum, and when he left she turned the sign on the door around, telling people that they were now closed.

"Thank God." she breathed quietly into the empty store on her way back behind the counter to close out the register.

She made quick work of everything and exactly 15 minutes after closing time she was on her way home. Bayanne was thankful for the slightly cooler night air and a little breeze that refreshed her momentarily. She stopped for a heartbeat to breathe in the fresh air and to steel herself for the walk home. She intended to keep a brisk pace while she walked past the numerous dark and dank alleys, until she had reached a more well-lit and busier part of town and she was so focused on getting there, that she didn't see the two figures looming in the shadows until it was too late.

"Well, well, well... look who it is. Miss 'I'm-too-good-to-have-a-good-time-with-y'all'." Clint, one of her earlier, and quite unpleasant, customers from earlier stepped into her path to block her way.

"Get out of my way." Bay made to walk around him, but he kept stepping into her path.

"Not so fast there, Missy." he sneered. Bay turned around and chills ran down her spine when she found Gus right behind her, already up in her personal space.

"Someone should teach you some manners, girly. Pretty girls like you shouldn't play with grown men. Don't be a cock tease, sugar tits. It's not nice." Gus grinned and took another step towards Bay, making her step back into Gus. Chills ran down her spine and when Clint grabbed her upper arms in a bruising grip she felt panic and disbelief flood her system.

"No!" she started struggling, trying to wriggle out of Clint's grasp. Her movements were quick and jerky, like a fish out of the water, when she tried to jam her elbows sharply into Clint's ribs, but he didn't budge. He only let go of her in surprise, when Bay kicked Gus in the nuts, making the man double over in pain. She didn't waste any time and started running, she knew she could outrun them, but before she got too far, a heavy weight suddenly slammed into her back and she got knocked to the concrete ground of the sidewalk. Black dots clouded her vision as all air rushed from her lungs, leaving her gasping and desperate for air. She was roughly turned on her back and suddenly pain exploded on the left side of her face. Clint had backhanded her hard, dazing her even more. Before she could gather her bearings Gus was kneeling above her head and was pinning her arms to the ground.

"Little virgin Mary's got some fire in her. Who woulda thought, Gus?" Clint chuckled.

"Ain't it fun when they fight back? Makes it all so much sweeter." Gus was giggling almost maniacally. Bay slowly came out of her haze and once again realized what was happening, just in time to see Clint producing a wicked looking knife. Her eyes widened and she forgot all about the pain she was in and she used all the breath she had left to scream as loud as she possible could.

"HEEEEEEELLLLPP! FIIIIIRREEEEEE!" she screeched as she started struggling again. Clint pressed his dirty hand over her mouth and pushed the tip of his knife against her throat.

"Shut up you stupid cunt! You ain't gonna ruin our fun again!" he backhanded her again for good measure, making her cry out in pain as tears finally leaked out of the corner of her eyes. The next thing she felt was a sharp pain and burning sensation between her breasts, right before the cool night air hit her naked skin. She tried to mentally prepare herself for what was to come, she tried to make herself slip away inside her head, but suddenly she noticed that nothing was happening anymore. Neither one of them was touching her anymore. What were they doing? Were they just staring at her? She opened her eyes again, her forehead crinkling when she knit her brows in confusion. The scene in front of her wasn't making any sense. The guys were about to rape or kill her, or both, and now someone was beating them up like they were the Tasmanian Devil, unleashing a tornado of hurt on her attackers. Or maybe she was just really, really dizzy from those punches. Where had that person come from? Bay hadn't noticed anyone running up. On shaking hands she pushed herself up and turned over onto all fours, crawling over to the wall to seek protection until her legs would function properly again and she would be able to run home.

* * *

Daryl Dixon had somewhat of a sixth sense. He knew when trouble was afoot. It felt to him like he could literally smell it in the air. That sense was probably born out of necessity and it may have saved his life a couple of times, making him run and hide before his father came home drunk off his ass and took his frustrations out on his youngest son, adding some new masterpieces to Daryl's growing collection of thick, ropey scars. He was done with that shit now, though. He had gotten out of there as soon as he had been able to, dropping out of school and drifting around with his older brother Merle after he had returned home from his stint in the military. Life wasn't perfect these days, far from it, but it was still much better than living with his alcoholic, sadistic asshole of a father. Merle was gone right now, too, off to Atlanta to take care of some business as he had called it. He'd been gone for a while which was why Daryl hadn't tasted that bitter taste of doom on his tongue in quite some time. Too bad that his superpower never told him what exactly to expect. When he had still been living with Will it had been easy, run and hide or catch a beating, but now that Will was out of the picture it wasn't that easy to predict what kind of bad thing would happen.

He must have had some gut feeling, because usually he didn't stick around the store after he had made his purchases, but tonight something had made him park his truck (his most prized possession, no matter how old and beat up it was), just a little ways down the street. The hunger had made him stop and dig into the box of Lucky Charms right away. He had leaned back in his seat, listened to the radio and slowly munched the dry cereal, washing it down with some leftover soda from the bottle that had rolled around on the floor of the passenger side all day. His calm exterior didn't betray how restless he was on the inside. His eyes darted around the dark and empty street ahead of him, but there was nothing. Suddenly the idea came to mind that maybe he should get out of there, before some asshole tried to car-jack him or something, and he was just about to start up the engine, when he heard the bone-chilling screams of a woman who was begging for help. That's when he knew that his sixth sense truly never failed.

He tossed the cereal box on the passenger seat and opened the glove compartment, quickly getting out his gun. Merle had left him a .44 Smith &amp; Wesson revolver to protect himself with while he was gone. Daryl jumped out of his truck, tucked the revolver into the waistband of his jeans and took off running in the direction the screams had come from. He soon saw three shadowy figures and from the positions all three were in, it didn't take long for him to figure out what was happening and Daryl saw red. White-hot rage build inside his body at supersonic speed and it exploded with extraordinary force. Quick and explosive anger was one of the Dixons' special traits and sometimes it was a damn good trait to have. In his book rapists and child molesters were the biggest scum that walked the face of the earth and there would be no stopping him until he'd smashed their faces to bloody pulps. He wasn't the tallest guy and he was pretty thin, but he knew how to fight and his anger fueled him and turned him into a redneck-version of the Hulk.

The guys didn't know what hit them. Daryl had quickly kicked Clint in the side of the head, making him fall to the ground and off of Bayanne like a sack of potatoes, the knife falling out of his grasp and cluttering to the ground as well. In that split-second he looked down and realized that the victim was that Bayanne girl from the store, his rage grew tenfold. How dare they touch someone he actually knew? The second attacker who had her arms pinned gaped up at him in stunned surprise, not fully realizing what was happening. That they were both drunk also worked in Daryl's favor and he quickly had him on the ground as well with a hard punch to his face. He followed up with swift kicks to Gus' ribs and groin and when he heard the other one, Clint, groan in pain next to him, he quickly switched and gave him the beating of a lifetime. Daryl didn't stop delivering punches and kicks to the both of them, until he was too out of breath to dole out even more. He got down on one knee, yanked Clint's head up by his air and pressed the muzzle of the gun against his jaw.

"I know who you are! If you fucking show yer ugly-ass faces around here ever again, me 'n my brother will hunt down your asses and we'll cut off your sorry excuses for a dick and put 'em down your throats, ya got that?" he didn't get an answer right away, so he cocked the gun and pressed it against Clint's jaw a little harder. "I asked ya a question. You know ma brother, don't ya? You know he's gonna do it. So I ain't askin' but once more, you dickheads get all that?"

"Y-yes..." Clint sputtered, blood mixed with saliva spraying from his mouth while he tried to talk. "Never comin' near the girl 'gain."

"That's what I wanted ta hear." Daryl let go of Clint's hair, but slammed the butt of the revolver against his temple, knocking him out cold. He stood back up and delivered on last kick to Gus's unconscious form, tucking the gun back into his jeans before he walked over to the shocked girl who looked like she was trying to press herself into the wall of the building she was crouched against. She was quiet, but she was shaking and tears ran down her face as she stared at him with wide eyes. "Can ya walk? Bayanne? That's your name, right?"

Bay nodded mutely, but that was all the movement she was able to manage. Daryl looked down, his eyes widening a little when he found himself confronted with her bare breasts in the dim glow of the street light a couple of feet away. He was about to avert his gaze when something caught his eye. Something dark ran down from the cross on her necklace, which rested between her small breasts. It almost looked like the cross was bleeding, but he knew that wasn't possible, it was her that was bleeding.

"Shit, did the bastard stab you? Bayanne? Did he stab ya?" he didn't want to touch her and examine the wound in such an intimate place himself, the girl almost got raped for crying out loud, but she wasn't responding and he was panicked that she was about to die on him. The wound was close to the heart after all. _Fuck it, I'm sorry, _he thought and gently and carefully pushed and prodded at the wound and deemed it to be just a shallow cut, because of the little amount of blood. "Imma take ya to the hospital." he announced and grabbed both sides of her cut-up blouse and covered her up.

"NO!" Bayanne suddenly shouted in a surprisingly strong voice, startling Daryl a bit. "No hospital, please. He didn't,... they didn't... I don't want anyone looking **there**... no, please... I just wanna go home, please."

"Alright." he agreed. "I'll give ya a ride, okay?"

"Thank you." Bay whispered fiercely.

"Come on,... up." he moved his hands towards her slowly as not to startle her. When he had his hands tucked underneath her armpits he helped her stand. Her shirt fell open once more, but this time she noticed and quickly clutched the fabric back to her chest. She was shaking like a leaf and Daryl wished he could do something to make it stop, but he knew that right now there was nothing he could do but make sure she got home safely. He guided her to his truck and opened the door for her. He quickly cleared the seat, throwing everything in the back, before he helped her inside. She gave him her address and they drove there in silence, but Daryl's eyes kept flicking over to her every couple of seconds to make sure she was doing okay, considering the circumstances. Once they arrived he supported her and helped her up the stairs and all the way to her apartment, until she was seated on her couch. "Uhm..." he looked around, suddenly feeling a bit awkward. "You should put some frozen peas on that..." he motioned to her face. "Clean up that cut. I don't think it's too bad,... just bled more 'cause of yer rapid heartbeat I reckon..."

"Thank you, Daryl. Really, **thank you**." Bayanne said empathically while she clutched her shirt in one hand and her cross necklace in the other hand. "If you hadn't been there... I-I need to give you something... you risked your own life... I-I have gummy bears,... do you like gummy bears?" she asked in a small voice as she pulled the bag of gummy bears out of her pants pocket.

Daryl almost laughed, but the situation wasn't funny. Bayanne was in shock and didn't quite know what she was saying. "It's alright. Everyone would have done that. Don't need to give me nothin'."

"Take it... please. I-I don't have much... maybe a sandwich? Or money? Do you want money?"

"Girl, calm down. Don't want your money, alright? Jus' relax." he gently pushed her arm back down that had been holding out the bag of sweets for him. He took another look around, taking in her living arrangements while he pondered what he was supposed to do now. He was hesitant to leave her alone, but at the same time he very much wanted to get out of this situation. "I'm... uhm... I should... I don't know... you gonna be okay?"

Bayanne nodded and put on a brave smile, even though tears were still streaming down her face. "Just another shitty day, right? Gotta push past it and keep moving on. I'll just sleep." she was terrified of being alone, but she couldn't expect her savior to save her ass AND watch over her at night. She was strong, she could do this. She had to.

"Those guys won't bother you no more. I promise. Don't worry 'bout them." Daryl slowly inched closer to the door. "Imma get going. You get your sleep. Put ice on that and clean that cut first, though."

"I will. Thank you so much, Daryl."

"Was nothing." he waved her off and then left as abruptly as he had left the store earlier and got back in his truck. He saved a girl from getting raped and maybe even from getting killed, he should feel proud of himself, shouldn't he? However proud was not what he was feeling. He was kicking himself for not offering her a ride earlier. _'Off soon?'_ he hadn't even realized where the question had come from earlier, but it must have been his gut, telling him that something would happen if she would walk home alone. Hell he had thought about the whole thing while he had been in the store and had witnessed the end of the conversation with the two rapists, but he'd done nothing.

This was on him. At least he'd stopped it before something even worse had happened.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**We will stay in AU territory a bit, enjoying young love until (of course) something goes wrong.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Bayanne was sure that she had never ever been this tired before, but still she fought falling asleep. She was scared of having nightmares and having to relive those awful minutes from earlier that night in her dreams. At the same time she wished for some hours of sleep and escape from her thoughts and from the burning and throbbing pains she was experiencing. It wasn't just her face and that cut on her chest that were causing her discomfort, actually the pain from those injuries were pretty bearable compared to the wicked throbbing in her knee. She had banged it up good during her fall to the concrete of the sidewalk and she winced every single time she shifted her leg just a little and it scraped against the fabric of her sheets or her blanket.

She had kept her promise to Daryl, she had cleaned up the cuts and scrapes,... but probably not in the way he had meant for her to do it. When she had said that she didn't have much, she had really meant it. She just had the bare necessities, and while for most people a first-aid-kit and some pain medication counted as some of those bare necessities, Bay hadn't ever considered getting those things for herself. When moving into your very first apartment, there were so many little things a person needed, the list was crazy long. It wasn't just cooking equipment and plates, mugs and silverware, or towels and washcloths and soap, no, there was so much more. A lot of young people still had their families around to help them out with this stuff and give them advice on what to get, but Bay had been on her own. She had asked her girlfriends from school what would be most important, but their replies had been less than helpful.

"Make-up, so you always look good. Condoms, because now you can have boys over whenever you want. Booze, so you can drink your problems away."

Bay hadn't bought any of those items and she also hadn't bought things like a pair of scissors, or cotton swabs or band-aids; the thought that she might cut or burn herself never even crossed her mind, let alone the thought that she might get raped and banged up in the process. _Note to self: If I ever have a daughter, make her a list of necessities and add 'after-almost-rape-first-aid-kit', _Bay had thought wryly as she had lowered herself into her bathtub full of warm water. That's how she had eventually cleaned her wounds, by taking a bath. The water was quickly tinged with a bit of red, but Bay didn't notice right away, because she was busy scrubbing her skin raw in the spots Gus and Clint had touched her. She only stopped when she had the feeling of being clean again and only then did she notice that her cuts didn't quite stop bleeding. She carefully climbed out of the tub again and dabbed at the wounds with a clean towel to dry them. She didn't bother drying the rest of her body, she just grabbed her oversized sleep-shirt and put it on before she curled up on her couch. For the first time in almost a year she felt truly alone and helpless. She missed her grandmother dearly, especially in that moment. Mamaw Eva had been the best. Whenever Bay had been sad or had hurt herself or had just plain needed it, she had curled up on Mamaw Eva's couch, with her head in her grandmother's lap and had listened to the calm and soothing voice that told her that everything was going to be just fine, while getting her head petted.

Bay touched the cross around her neck when she thought about her grandmother. Mamaw Eva had been the one to give her this necklace when Bayanne had been 12 years old and her father had lost his job and had started drinking and doing drugs. 'Always keep your faith, the good Lord will make everything alright', Eva used to say. _Yeah right. I lost everything, but sure, He's gonna make it alright again. Whatever..._Bay scoffed audibly. If today had taught her anything, it was that nothing was alright and that it would stay that way for years to come.

* * *

She managed to sleep for about two hours, surprisingly without nightmares, but of course she felt like shit in the morning, and to make matters worse, she had another morning shift at the carpet factory. The last one in the morning for a while, thank goodness, and tomorrow she wouldn't have to go there at all. Finally, some much needed rest for her body. She washed up, got dressed and had her usual glass of water. This time though, instead of leaving right away, she walked back over to her couch and pulled on the back of it with both hands, moving it away from the wall. Getting down on her knees was a bitch, but she gritted her teeth and reached for the duffel bag that was hidden behind the couch. This was **her** most prized possession: her bag of money. Every cent she was able to save went into this bag. Mamaw Eva had always told her to never trust a bank with her money, that was why she kept her savings hidden in her apartment. Today she would have to sacrifice a couple of dollars to buy some pain pills and a first-aid-kit for her small home. Spending money unplanned like this always put a little damper on her mood, but at least it was just a little and not a hundred dollars or something. She took out a couple of bills, zipped the bag up again and stuffed it back behind the couch. She pushed the sofa back into place and left earlier than usual in order to have time to go to the pharmacy before work.

Daryl felt like a stalker when he watched the front door of her building like a hawk in the morning, but he had the urge to make sure that she had survived the night. He sat in his truck, drank flat soda from the bottle and kept his eyes glued to the heavy wooden door. He didn't really register the sigh of relief that left his body when the door opened and Bayanne exited the building. He wasn't able to see her face since she was walking the other way, but that was exactly how he had planned it. He didn't want her to see him and his truck, he just wanted to check up on her real quick before he went on his way to make some money. He noticed that she was walking with a bit of a limp, but she was up and walking and headed to work, so she had to be okay. His slightly frazzled nerves now calmed, he lit a cigarette, started up the engine and pulled into traffic to head to the meeting point to get together with his friend Patrick. Today they would drive through some neighborhoods and try to make some money by painting numbers on the sidewalks where they had become almost unreadable. The girl was fine, the rapist bastards wouldn't go near her again, he'd made sure she was still breathing this morning, time for him to move on and forget all about the incident. He had other stuff to worry about after all.

* * *

Work at the factory was hell that morning. She had expected it, but that didn't make it any less unpleasant. She was slower than usual and when sweat started to form on her skin and ran down her cleavage, the cut made itself known time and time again. Bay had bought herself some Advil and a small kit that contained everything she would need for all kinds of small home injuries. She had popped two pills in the locker room of the factory, and they took off the edge, but with some movements she definitely felt that her body was injured.

"Bayanne, for God's fucking sake, shove some Duracells up your ass and move! We ain't got all day around here. If you want peace and quiet, join a damn knitting circle." Tony, the foreman and macho extraordinaire, kept yelling at her to step up the pace. He didn't care about the bruises on her face or her hobbling. They had a goddamn job to do and if the carpets wouldn't get delivered on time, the boss was going to come down on him and give him hell. No, he wouldn't let that happen just because some stupid girl who was too lazy and weak to move her ass a little faster. _Never send a fucking woman to do a man's job._ That was his opinion and he had no idea what the boss had been thinking by hiring this lightweight.

Bay tried to drown him out and ignore his words and especially his tone of voice. Getting yelled at had never been something she had dealt well with, it made her cry faster than she would like to admit. She couldn't let that happen, if the guys saw her being weak (or weaker than they already thought she was) then working here would get even worse. _Tomorrow I'll get the paper again. There's gotta be something better with equal pay out there._ She still had hope that she would find another job that would have the same hours and make the same money as being a material handler in the carpet factory, even though it had been months and months and nothing had come up. However, she was known to not give up easily, and she sure as hell wouldn't give up on her dreams. If her grandmother had taught her anything it was, that she would be able to achieve anything if she only worked hard enough, and even though she might have lost her faith in God, she would never loose faith in her grandmother.

* * *

"I need some beer. Stop at Willy's store, will ya?" Patrick, one of Daryl's friends, asked of him when they were on their way to pick up some burgers. They had been able to make about fifty bucks each, not too bad for three hours of easy work, and now they were hungry. Daryl hadn't eaten in a whole day, except for the Lucky Charms, and his belly was growling loudly at the prospect of burgers and fries. Daryl gave his friend a nod in reply and pulled his truck into the left lane to turn onto the street that would lead them to the store. He parked right across from the store and killed the engine as his eyes casually looked through the store window.

"The hell?" he muttered with a frown, making Patrick, who was about to leave the car, stop in his tracks.

"What?"

"Ain't that Mary behind the register?" Daryl asked and squinted his eyes. Why was Mary here? He'd seen Bayanne leave for work this morning, she should be here right now, so why the hell wasn't she?

"Yeah, that's her. Why?" Patrick was confused for a short moment, but then a grin appeared on his lips. "I get it... You were expecting Bayanne Moore, right? Look at you, you dog! You got the hots for her? When did that happen?"

"Ain't like that." Daryl blushed nonetheless. He wasn't one to brag about doing good deeds, but he felt the need to explain why he had wanted to see Bayanne stand behind the register. "Last night,... I bought some stuff here. Parked down the road to eat. Heard screams. Grabbed my gun and checked it out and there were two guys pinning Bayanne to the ground, beating on her, cutting her clothes open with a knife..."

"Holy shit!" Patrick was stunned. "They rape her?"

"Nah, stopped it in time. Kicked the living shit outta them. Held ma gun to the head of one of 'em, made them promise not to go near her again or Merle 'n me would fuck 'em up. Took her home after. She didn't want to go to a hospital, just wanted to be home, so I took her there and left."

"Left? Dude, I don't know a lot, but you don't leave a girl all by herself after she got attacked like that."

_Yeah, I fucked up._ Daryl thought and sighed deeply. "Checked in on her this morning. Saw her limping to work. Looked like she was doin' alright, but now she ain't here."

"Wanna go check out if she's home? Or want me to ask Mary 'bout her?" Patrick offered. He'd known Daryl all his life, he knew the guy had a good heart and probably worried that something had happened to the girl after all.

"Dunno. Nah." Daryl shrugged. A bit of worry was indeed nagging at him, but he didn't want Patrick to know that. If his friend would ask him directly if he was worried about that Bayanne girl, he would deny, deny, deny. He didn't want to look like a pussy in front of his friend, worrying about a girl he barely knew.

"Alright. It was good of you to help, but other than that the girl ain't none of your business I guess. Be right back." Patrick got out and only smirked when his back was turned and Daryl wasn't able to see his expression. They were guys, they had some weed and some booze here and there with their group of friends. They talked about girls. They discussed who was hot and who was cute and who was a stuck-up bitch and not worth the trouble, and with pot and alcohol in his system, even Daryl took part in those discussions, being a bit more outspoken than usual. Patrick knew that Daryl thought Bayanne Moore was cute. The whole group had agreed that she had killer eyes and a pretty mouth and that both of those features would have the power to bring a guy to his knees when she had her mouth wrapped around his dick and her large eyes would look up at him while she sucked him off. Daryl hadn't been one of the guys to yell 'hell yeah!' when that fantasy had been mentioned, but Patrick knew enough to know that Daryl had noticed her on some occasions when they had all been at the same party every once in a while. Did he think Daryl had a serious thing for her? No, he didn't. But if they would start interacting more it could totally go in that direction; that he was sure of.

"Hey Mary. Bayanne not working today?" Patrick asked casually when he paid for his beer.

"She's coming in for the late shift. I got an appointment in the afternoon so we switched it around. Why? Need me to pass on a message?" Mary, Bayanne's 36-year old co-worker, asked politely. Just like Bay, she grew up here in Dalton and she knew all the boys and girls around the neighborhood. They could be hellions, yes, but they were still good boys for the most part. Boys will be boys, or so had her mother always said.

"No, just used to seeing her here in the mornings. You have a nice day, Mary." Patrick winked at her with a big smile, getting a little giggle out of the older woman for flirting with her a little, then he jogged back out to the truck. "Alright, let's go eat."

Daryl nodded and pulled into traffic, seemingly cool, but Patrick could sense that Daryl wanted to know whether or not he had asked Mary about Bayanne. Patrick wasn't offering up any info, though. He wouldn't make it that easy for Daryl. If he wanted to know, he had to ask. He had to fight his smirk hard, though, because by the time they were sitting in the burger joint, Daryl was literally squirming in his seat. The curiosity was killing him and Patrick was enjoying the show. As soon as he had finished his burger and was just picking at his fries he offered Daryl an opening. "Just ask, man." he shook his head chuckling.

"Ask what?" Daryl tried to play dumb, although he knew it was of no use.

"You wanna know if I asked Mary 'bout Bayanne. It's written all over your face, dude. What's the big deal? If you wanna know, just fucking ask. You saved her, think I'd give you shit for wanting to know she's okay? Everyone would worry 'bout that . Ain't just you."

"So ya asked?"

"Yeah."

"And?"

"And what?" Patrick asked with a straight face, making Daryl clench his fists as his temper rose.

"You know fucking what! She know something? Why's that Bayanne girl not workin'?"

"That Bayanne girl,..." Patrick emphasized that part, because he noticed that Daryl wanted to make it sound like he barely even knew who Bayanne was, and he couldn't help making a liiittle fun of him for it. "... is working the late shift today."

"What the damn hell?" Daryl burst out in anger and disbelief. "Late shift again? After last night? What is she, insane? That girl's just askin' for it..."

"Mary's got an appointment, so Bayanne sure didn't ask for it. Relax, dude. Ain't your problem, remember?" Patrick grinned, making Daryl narrow his eyes.

"Shut up. Wipe that stupid grin off your face, 'fore I do it." Daryl threatened and bowed his head, making his long blond hair fall into his face and his eyes, shielding himself from Patrick's knowing looks.

"Just kidding, D. Like I said, if it was me in your shoes, I would have been worried, too. But now you know."

"Yeah. Now I know." Daryl agreed and decided that it was time for him to forget about it. For real this time.

* * *

She was so nervous her hands were shaking when she started closing out the register. She was afraid of going out there at this time of night again, but she knew it couldn't be helped. If her knee would have been okay, she would have run at full speed until she would have reached the safer part of her route. Tonight she would be slower, instead of faster, though, and that thought wasn't exactly comforting. She stalled a little and recounted the money one extra time, before she decided that leaving even later would only make things worse. After getting her things she went outside and locked up, taking three deep breaths before she turned around, keys wedged between her fingers, so she could use them as a weapon, only to drop them a moment later, when loud honking shocked her into freezing and stopping cold in her tracks. She was shaking even harder now as she picked up her keys and looked around warily. Suddenly her eyes locked with Daryl's, relief flooding her system so hard that she could have cried.

"Come on." he called out to her through the open window of his truck and motioned her over. Bay hobbled across the street and got into his truck. Daryl looked at her closely, studying her face, and a slight blush crept into Bay's cheeks.

"Thank you." she murmured with shy gratitude. Bay wasn't incredibly shy by nature, but she didn't have too much experience with the opposite sex. She had kissed two boys in her life, but that was at parties and it had been more out of curiosity than anything else. She had no problem talking to boys or being around them, but the fact was, that Daryl was so incredibly cute and good-looking, that it was downright intimidating. She had always thought of him as cute, so now sitting this close to him and having him look at her this intensely, it made her nervous. It was nervous in a good way, but she still had no idea how to deal with it or how to act.

"No problem." he said in his soft voice. He had a nice voice. It wasn't deep, but it wasn't high-pitched neither,... it was just right and enjoyable and she liked hearing it.

"You sleep?" he asked on the ride to her building.

"A little. Hour or two."

"Nightmares?"

"No, surprisingly none. Not yet, anyway. Can't say I'm looking forward to falling asleep, though." Bay sighed quietly.

"Sorry for leavin' ya like that." Daryl mumbled an apology. He'd come to terms with the fact that he couldn't have know that she was going to get attacked, but he knew he could have helped her out with taking care of the wounds.

"Oh no, no, no. It's okay. I didn't expect you to stick around. No need to apologize. Really."

"Sure?"

"Yeah." she smiled and noticed the corners of his mouth lifting a little bit, while he chewed on his bottom lip.

"Your face don't look too bad. Ya clean those wounds?"

"Mhm,... I didn't have anything at home so I just took a bath. Best I could do."

"Ya took a bath?" Daryl's voice rose in volume and he stepped on the brakes to gape at her. "Are ya crazy? You don't take a bath when you're cut up! Could'a bled out! If those wounds would'a been any worse... You got a deathwish or somethin? Taking a damn bath and then walking home alone again? Nobody ever tell ya not to take a bath when ya got cuts?"

"No."

"No, what?"

"No, nobody ever told me." Bayanne said, a little taken aback by his outburst.

"Damn, girl. Jesus fucking Christ..." he muttered and suddenly froze. "Sorry." he mumbled while he looked at the cross that was nestled in her cleavage. That had Bayanne laughing a little.

"It's just jewelry. Don't worry. Guess I'm fresh out of faith these days."

"Who could blame you?" Daryl scoffed and resumed the drive. From what he knew Bayanne had been some kind of shitstorm-magnet, what with losing her parents and her grandmother within months of each other about a year ago. Had been the talk of the town for a while. Father, high as a kite, jumped off a building thinking he could fly. Mother, heroin overdose. Grandmother, heart attack. That's what him and the guys had heard from girls she was friends with. And now this shit yesterday. Sucked. She looked like a nice girl, who didn't deserve a shitty life. "Working late again tomorrow?"

"No. Today was the last time for a while."

"Good." Daryl was very happy with that answer. It meant he really, **really**, could stop worrying about her ass now. He hadn't given her a ride home out of guilt tonight, no, he'd wanted to make sure that she made it home safe and help her out by not having her walk home in constant fear of what was lurking in the shadows.

"You sure that I can't offer you anything as a thanks? I'm very grateful for your help." Bay tried again when he pulled up to her apartment building.

"No it's okay. Don't you worry." he said with those turned up corners of his mouth, then he pressed his lips together and chewed on them, feeling awkward and not knowing what to do now, again.

"Okay, but if there's anything... I'm about to make dinner."

"Uhhm... I... uh,... it's nice of you to offer, but you should really rest, Bayanne. Don't need me sticking around and keepin' ya from sleeping. Come on, out and up ya go." he wasn't kicking her out of his car, he simply didn't want to be a bother and he wanted her to get her rest, since she looked so tired.

"Okay. Well, thanks again, Daryl. I'll see you around."

"Yeah." he nodded and watched her climb out of his truck and enter her building. "See ya."

* * *

The next morning was a Wednesday and Bay only had to work the morning shift from 6 am to 2 pm today. Shortly after 5 am she stepped out of her building to go to work, and like the night before, she dropped her keys on the ground before she had even taken a step on the street. She crouched down and picked it up and when she straightened and turned back around to be on her way, she had the weird feeling of having seen something familiar out of the corner of her eye. She turned back around and looked down the sidewalk, frowning when she noticed Daryl's truck parked about a hundred feet from her front door. She noticed that the windows were fogged up and she walked over to investigate. She cupped her hands against the glass of the passenger side window and peered inside, but the car seemed to be empty. _Maybe he lives nearby? Or one of his friends?_

She wanted to leave again when she thought she had detected movement coming from the backseat. She took a couple of steps over to the window of the backseat and looked inside again. What she saw evoked many different emotions inside of her at once and she wasn't able to name all of them, but there was Daryl curled up on the backseat of his car, his head on a big fluffy pillow, one hand stuffed underneath that pillow, the rest of his body huddled under a quilt that looked like it had seen better days. One question swirled through her mind in an endless loop. _Is Daryl homeless?_

* * *

**_Thank you for reading!_**

**_You guys are awesome. Thank you so much for all these positive responses to the first chapter. I hope you liked the second one just as much._**

**_As usual, I will try to update regularly and those who know me know, that I update at least once a week unless circumstances change around my house and me or my son get sick._**

**_Snowbird: Oh I missed you! I really did. Thank you so much for your review, and the first one at that:) I'm happy that you like it. I don't like supergirls, so she will definitely have her weaknesses and limits. I think it will be nice to see how young Bay and Daryl will survive together for a while:)_**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

She watched him sleep for what felt like an eternity, but was really only about a minute. He looked like he was cold and it made Bay want to hobble back up the stairs and get her warm blanket for him. It was the end of May, but some nights got a bit cold anyway, especially when one slept in a car, she imagined. _What do I do? Wake him? Just leave?_ She didn't have too much longer to decide, as the store had to be opened soon. Without really realizing that she was doing it, she raised her hand up to the window and timidly knocked her knuckles against the safety glass. Daryl didn't stir, but that came as no surprise to her, because **she **had barely heard her own knock.

"Daryl." she called out and knocked once more, a bit louder this time.

The man in question woke with a start. He pushed himself up a bit, resting his weight on his forearm while he rubbed his tired eyes and squinted out the windshield, wondering if he had imagined someone calling out for him. When his vision cleared a bit he noticed someone standing in front of the passenger side backseat window. "Aww shit!" he lamented and sighed deeply. How on earth had she seen him? He had parked all the way back here, opposite direction of the way she had to take to work. He could just imagine what she was thinking. She was either pitying him for living in his truck or she was thinking that he had stuck around because he was sweet on her. Or both. _Well I ain't into you, so don't fucking flatter yourself, girl. Would have done that for any other chick out there. Ain't nothing special. _Then yet another line of thought opened up inside his head. _Or now she thinks of me as a fucking redneck hobo loser._

Daryl's thoughts made him work himself up into a frenzy as he scrambled to get into the driver's seat. He ignored her eyes that looked to be holding so many questions, as a matter of fact he avoided looking at her completely. He just revved up the engine and got out of there like a bat out of hell. He didn't want to have any conversation about him not having an apartment and he also didn't want to look at her while she looked at him with a stupid grin on her face, because she thought that he 'had the hots of her', as Patrick had put it. _That's what I get for helping. Nah, thanks. Don't need no stupid girl with a death-wish to cling on to me like a damn bur. That girl's a magnet for fucking trouble, ain't gonna go near her never again._

"Oh..." Bay had quickly taken a step backwards when he'd driven off abruptly. The whole thing made her head spin and she looked after the car in a daze. "Okay then." she sighed and walked to work. _Of course he's mad. Should have let him sleep. He's gotta think I'm an idiot. He saved my life and as a thank you I wake him up at 5 am. Good job, Bay._

* * *

"Pat! Man, pull your damn tongue outta that girl and get in! Ain't got all day." Daryl had just about enough of watching Patrick trying to eat up his girlfriend Jessa, while he waited for him to get in the car, just like Jessa's friend Erin was waiting for the couple to finish things up, so the girls could be on their way to work. Patrick raised his arm and flipped Daryl off, not breaking the kiss for a second. It was doing nothing to improve Daryl's already foul mood.

Eventually Patrick and Jessa pulled apart, the girl's eyes all glazed looking while Patrick grinned smugly and wiped two fingers over his wet lips. "Later." he winked at his girlfriend and also said bye to Erin before he got in the car. "And a good morning to you, sunshine."

"Oh fuck off!"

"Woah, the hell crawled up your ass and is now rotting in hell?" Patrick was surprised about Daryl's glum disposition. Usually he was pretty laid back, except for the times Merle was around. Which brought him to his next question. "Your brother back?"

"No."

"Then what's wrong? Where were ya last night? Got a ticket or something?" Patrick tried to coax it out of Daryl, but he only got a dirty look in return. Patrick groaned, he hated when Daryl was like this. "I'm telling you, if you keep this shit up, you can go paint the damn sidewalks by yourself."

"Just..." Daryl started explaining what had transpired that morning, but then quickly changed his mind. "Forget it."

"Come on. What gives? Jessa ain't been over last night, so where you been?"

"I fucked up." Daryl accepted defeat. He knew Patrick would keep asking until he caved anyway. The guy had stamina where that shit was concerned.

"Fucked up how?"

Daryl hesitated and chewed on his bottom lip for a moment before he answered. "Drove to the store last night and gave that Bayanne girl a ride home."

"Mhm." he pressed his lips together to keep from grinning. "How's that fucking up? Kinda cool that ya did it. You did a good thing, why's that fucking up? She say anything?" Patrick questioned when suddenly it hit him. "Fuck! Ya didn't try to kiss and grope her, did ya?"

"You kiddin'? The hell kinda guy you take me for, man? Girl almost got raped."

"Exactly. And that conclusion was the only thing that made sense when ya said ya fucked up. If that's not it, what the hell did you do?"

"I didn't go back to my usual spot after, alright? I parked on her street, couple feet from her building and slept there. And she saw. This morning."

"That means now she knows that you're kinda in between homes right now. What she say?"

"Nothing. Got in the driver's seat and left."

"You just left her standing there?" Now Patrick was laughing, that mini-movie that was playing inside his head right now was damn hilarious. "Dude, you scared of the chick or something? Why you always leave her?"

"Ain't scared, asshole. Just don't need her thinking things that ain't true. Don't need her following me around like a lovesick little girl, just cause she thinks I stuck around to look after her." Daryl grumbled.

"Right." Patrick smirked, but looked out the side window and didn't let Daryl see it. From the look of things, one would assume it was more like the other way around, because Daryl's been checking in on her and not the other way around, and from how defensive he acted, Patrick knew that Daryl was aware of how it really looked, as well. Daryl was staying with Patrick most of the time, but if Jessa came over and they got to fucking, Daryl quickly made himself scarce and spent a night or two in his truck. Last night Jessa hadn't been over, Daryl knew that, but he'd still opted to stay around Bay's apartment. Patrick fell silent and started thinking back to all the times he had been with Daryl when they had encountered Bayanne around town or at parties, trying to remember just how much Daryl had paid attention to her and if maybe there had been a little thing on his friend's side all along. It was hard to tell, Daryl was pretty guarded when they were with more people than just their usual group of friends, but Patrick knew, that his friend's eyes have definitely trailed over to the petite brunette more often than to any other girl. But then again, Daryl had already admitted that he thought she was pretty or cute or whatever.

"You like her?" Patrick asked outright with a knowing smile.

"Shut up."

"This ain't one of 'em hero complex things, is it? Or what's it called when the guy falls in love with the girl he saved from rapists?"

"Shut the fuck up, Pat. It ain't like that."

"Then why did you stick around? Feel guilty about what happened to her?"

"No,... alright, I did at first, but not no more."

"Then why'd you stick around? Ain't your usual spot where ya know that no cops are gonna show up and chase ya off. Why risk that?"

"I... I don't know." Daryl really couldn't explain. It wasn't guilt that had made him stay, he'd just stayed. "I just stayed." he voiced his thoughts to his friend.

"Cause you like her." Patrick chuckled.

"No I don't."

"Come on. What would be so bad about you liking her? Think anyone would talk shit about you for it? Bayanne's not so bad. You been looking at her for some time now. Don't even deny it. I have eyes."

"Stop. You make me sound like some perv. And you're full of shit." Daryl shot him another dirty look. _I ain't into her. I just wanted to stay there. I was fucking tired. Yeah she ain't bad, but I ain't into her. I like her alright, she seems okay, she's cute, but I ain't into her. Don't mean nothing. Why people always gotta analyze shit. Was nothing to it. Just wanted to be there. No reason. Barely know her anyway. Can't be into a girl ya don't even know. Just cause I think she's pretty don't mean I wanna tap that. _Daryl was ranting internally again, clenching the steering wheel tighter and tighter, until his knuckles were taking on an unsightly shade of white.

"Alright." Patrick gave up, but on the inside he was convinced that Daryl liked her and maybe had for some time. Even if it was just a little crush, but something was definitely there.

"She's stupid anyway. Don't need no girl without any brains bothering me." Daryl muttered.

"Stupid? Never gave me the impression she was stupid. Jessa said that Bayanne helped her out in school a couple of times. What makes ya say that?"

"Maybe she was good in school, but she don't know nothing 'bout life in general." Daryl scoffed. "She had that cut right between her tits, like this..." Daryl used his index finger to trace an invisible line, about 4 or 5 inches in length, down the middle of his chest. "Was still bleedin' when I took her home. Thought she got stabbed, thought she was gon' die on me. I tell her to clean it up and ya wanna know what she did? She took a fucking bath. Could've bled out." Daryl looked over at Patrick while they were stopped at a red light and saw Patrick look at him with a comical expression. "What?"

"Dude... don't tell me you saw her tits." Daryl's head whipped back around at that and he looked at Patrick with an expression that said "really"?

"Yeah, D, I know, she almost got raped and that's bad and all, but seriously, man. Tell me. You saw her tits?" Daryl just nodded in reply, chewing nervously on his bottom lip once more. "Awesome." Patrick grinned that stupid little grin most guys had when they thought about naked boobs. "They as perky as they seem?"

"Stop." Daryl said looking at him sternly, but after a moment of silence Patrick detected the hint of a smile on Daryl's lips and he soon heard his friend utter: "Yeah... sure are."

Patrick barked out a laugh and clapped his hands once. "Awesome."

* * *

Three days passed and on Saturday Bay was more relaxed again at her main place of work. Gus and Clint hadn't been around since that awful night, her knee hurt less every day and the bruises on her face weren't too dark anymore, but unfortunately still visible. The cut was a long, angry-looking red line and seemed slow to heal, but maybe that was due to the heat and her sweating quickly. At least it didn't seem to be infected, so that was definitely positive.

Daryl hadn't been to the store since the night he had picked her up; not during her shifts anyway. She couldn't blame him for avoiding her, she thought it might be his way of giving her the message that they weren't friends and weren't gonna chat and catch up regularly from now on. Not that she had assumed that that was what was gonna happen, but... oh well,... she didn't really know herself what she had thought about what was gonna happen. He was 20, she was 18, he was cool, she was not... He'd helped her out, but that was it. She could accept that. Still, she couldn't get the picture of him sleeping in his car out of her head. She had thought he lived with his older brother or maybe alone, but not in a car. She tried to push it out of her mind, because she knew she would never get an explanation. His abrupt departure Wednesday morning had clearly been a sign to back off and not ask stupid questions. "Message received_."_ she murmured to herself while she restocked the cigarettes behind the register.

The chimes announced new customers and she casually looked over to the door, only to receive a tiny shock to her system when her eyes locked with Daryl's baby blues for the fraction of a second. She felt her cheeks heat up and she quickly turned her back on him out of embarrassment. _Why on Earth am I blushing?_ she questioned herself and soon realized that she was blushing because she had no idea how to act around him. She wanted the ground to swallow her whole. If she would blush when he was at the register, she would start digging her way to China right away. He would think she was crushing on him if she blushed when looking at him and how embarrassing would that be? He would laugh at her for sure. Maybe not outright, but surely he would make fun of her silly antics on the inside.

Daryl scoffed internally when Bay turned her back on him so quick he was barely able to detect the movement with bare eyes. He felt himself confirmed. Now that she knew he was a hobo nobody, he wasn't her hero no more. She didn't want nothing to do with him. Didn't even look at him no more. _Just like everybody else, _Daryl thought and went to get himself some prepackaged meals.

Bayanne hadn't even noticed that Patrick was with him. She had turned around too fast and had been too busy getting over her embarrassment to see the other guy. He was in a different aisle than Daryl, too, and Bayanne didn't notice Patrick looking at her, while she dared to turn back around again and watch Daryl pick out some TV dinners. She caught herself staring a bit too long, and while biting her lip on top of that, if he would have turned around, he would have caught her staring at him like a dreamy teen. Once again she blushed and brought her hands up to her cheeks. "Stop blushing." she admonished herself quietly and shook her head at herself, much to the amusement of Patrick. She really had her charms. He wasn't that surprised that Daryl might have a little thing for her. The poor girl looked flustered and he could understand why. Daryl might have a baby face, but he could be very intimidating and his gruff actions probably had her a bit at a loss and unsure of how to act.

Patrick got to thinking and a plan started to form inside his head. Most of the guys now had, more or less, steady girlfriends. It would be cool for Daryl to have someone nice in his life, too, and Bayanne seemed like she would fit the bill. She might be good for him, get him out of his shell a little, **if** she succeeded in busting through all those walls he liked to put up around himself. Even if they didn't end up a couple, it never hurt to make a new friend. In school Bay had been friends with his own girlfriend Jessa and with Sam's girlfriend Erin, so she really would fit right in. Patrick may know more about Bayanne than Daryl did at this point, because Jessa's been speaking fondly of Bay and had told him stories about what they had been up to during high school. She had also talked about wanting to get back in touch with her old girlfriend for a while and if Bay started hanging out with them, it wouldn't just be a nice thing for the girls, but it would also be an opportunity for Daryl and her to get to know each other better and see if there might be any potential for more.

While Bayanne finished up restocking the packs of cigarettes, Patrick walked over to Daryl, who was now looking for a bag of chips to get. He just couldn't decide which flavor he wanted. "You done yet? Ain't stallin' paying for those, are ya?"

"Shut up!" Daryl scowled and bumped his elbow into Patrick's ribs. He quickly looked over his shoulder for a second, but was relieved that Bayanne still had her back to them and probably hadn't heard Patrick. "Can I use your microwave for these?" he asked holding up one of the TV dinners.

"Sure. Since when do you ask?" Patrick was having the time of his life with Bay and Daryl in the store. It was fun seeing them both squirm, and Daryl was definitely stalling. Funny that he hadn't put up a fight in coming here in the first place if he was so uncomfortable being around Bayanne. Probably couldn't stay away for too long after all. The thought made Patrick chuckle, making Daryl look at him questioningly.

"What now?" Daryl asked, his eyes flicking over Patrick's shoulder to look at Bayanne for a second, which of course didn't go unnoticed by his best friend. Patrick realized in that moment, that Daryl had done that pretty often in the past when they had been in here. _Yeah, my boy's definitely got a thing going on here. Sly dog. Never noticed before how often he does that._

"Nothing. You ready to pay now, or what?"

"Yeah, fine." Daryl grabbed a random bag of potato chips, but didn't make a move to step up to the register.

"Alright, let's ring 'er up." Patrick smiled highly entertained, and led the way. "Hey Bayanne."

"Hi Patrick." She smiled, a little surprised to see him, because she hadn't noticed him come in. Then her gaze shifted over to Daryl, who was standing slightly behind Patrick. Daryl had been looking at the floor like it was the most interesting thing in the world, but after she had greeted Patrick, his eyes had flicked up, locking with hers, which made her quickly avert her gaze. "H-hi..." she stuttered with a voice that was not nearly as firm as she would have liked. _Lord, sweet Lord, take me now please. Oh God, why is this so weird? _If she would have had a shovel handy at that moment, she really would have started digging a hole for herself to make her way to the other end of the world. She was acting like an idiot.

"Hey." his voice was cool as ever, but he was chewing his bottom lip again, showing Patrick that he was nervous and not entirely comfortable either.

"Damn..." Patrick slowly reached out and gently touched Bayanne's chin, turning her head to the side a bit to get a full visual. "I'd hate to see the other guy." Patrick's eyes scanned over her face and chest, taking in her fading bruises and the red, angry-looking cut that peeked out of her top and went up til it met the silver cross on her necklace. He was surprised that Daryl hadn't killed the guys who did this. If someone would have done that to Jessa, he didn't know if he would have had mercy on them. But that was why Daryl was the smarter one, it's how he managed to keep himself out of too much trouble. He was wild and unpredictable and sometimes acted before he thought things through, but still he seemed to have a good voice of reason that managed to get through to him in his angry hazes. What Patrick didn't know was, that in that exact moment, one of those angry hazes was starting to build inside Daryl, who was staring at Patrick's fingers touching Bay's face with a frown. The sight didn't sit well with him and he felt something unknown well up inside of him. He couldn't explain what it was, but he assumed he was worried that Patrick was making Bay feel uncomfortable. _Girl got touched enough by those creeps. Why the fuck you gotta go touch up on her now, too?_

"You give him hell?" Patrick smiled, trying to make light of the situation a bit and making Bayanne feel good by letting her think that he thought she could take on a guy, even though he knew exactly what had happened.

"No. Somebody else did. Got them good, I think. Thank God he was around." Bay smiled at Patrick, keeping herself from looking at Daryl in order to keep herself from blushing and acting even more like a fool. She was surprised that Daryl hadn't told Patrick about him saving her. She thought they were best friends. Then again, obviously Daryl didn't want to be associated with her, and that was why he hadn't said anything.

"Yeah, you were in luck. By the time this shop closes down everybody's smart enough to stay inside around these parts... Real lucky that a good samaritan was around... Thank God for coincidences, ain't that right, D?" Patrick asked him with a completely straight face and stressed the word 'coincidence', while Daryl narrowed his eyes at him in a warning scowl.

"I'm very grateful, that's for sure." Bay assured him and rang up his soda, bread and peanut butter.

"Oh, by the way, Jessa says hi." Patrick acted like he had just remembered, even though this part of the conversation had been planned. The boys watched as Bayanne's face lit up noticeably.

"Jessa?! You seen her? How is she doing? I haven't seen her in ages."

"She's good. Real good. She's my girlfriend now, ya know? She wanted to come by and see you here, but she's busy with work and school."

"Oh she's with you? That's nice. You guys make a cute couple. Tell her not to worry, we'll see each other eventually." Bay's demeanor had perked up noticeably at the mention of her former best friend and her smile was contagious, making Patrick smile even bigger. Daryl on the other hand remained cool as a cucumber and kept studying the floor, now that Patrick had removed his hand from Bay's skin, only looking up every couple of seconds.

"I have an idea!" Patrick grinned. "Whatcha doin' tonight?"

"Uhm, nothing much. Watch TV, I guess." Bayanne shrugged while she exchanged money with Patrick.

Daryl realized what Patrick was doing and it took all he had not to gape at his friend. He didn't let it show, but he felt a bit panicky on the inside. _The fuck is he doin'?_

"So you're free. Cool. Me and the guys and our girlfriends, we hang out in the parking lot at Wal-Mart later today. You know, just hanging out, having a drink or two... You should come. Can catch up with Jessa and Erin, they'll both be there."

"Oh ummm..." Bay was tempted, but still hesitant to say yes right away, because she was a bit jittery about going out after dark.

"Don't worry, we're gentlemen. As soon as ya wanna go home, we'll take ya. Ain't gonna let you walk around at night alone." Patrick winked, trying his best to convince her to come. She thought he must have read her mind, but of course he had guessed that this was what she was worried about due to those freaks doing this shit to her. "Come on, the girls miss ya. It's gonna be fun, right Daryl?" Patrick looked over at Daryl and almost burst out laughing at his, by now, murderous expression.

"Yeah, right." Daryl pressed out. Bayanne wasn't stupid, it was blatantly obvious that Daryl didn't want her to come and did not agree with Patrick's invitation. It made her want to say no, but the prospect of seeing her friends again was very tempting.

"Come on, Bayanne. Want me to get my girl on the phone and talk you into it?" he threatened jokingly, making Bay laugh and raise her hands in defeat.

"Alright, alright. You win. You sure it's okay? I don't want to annoy anyone by showing up there." Bay gathered all her courage and looked at Daryl, indirectly asking him if he was okay with it. Daryl looked at her and gave her an almost imperceptible nod. He didn't mind her hanging out with their group, not at all, he just hated the game Patrick seemed to be playing. How many times did he have to say it? Just cause he liked the way she looked didn't mean he wanted her to be his girlfriend. He had no need for those and Patrick should know that by now.

"Bayanne, I know we don't know each other that much, but we kinda been runnin' in the same circle for years and I don't think I ever met anyone who didn't like ya. Just stop by, have some fun and if ya don't like it, I'll never bother you again. Deal?"

"Okay." Bayanne finally agreed with a bit of a shy giggle. It was nice to feel included again. She hadn't abandoned her friends on purpose. She was just working so much and the other girls were splitting their time between school and work, they had just drifted apart a bit. If her mother hadn't shot Bay's whole college fund up into her veins, Bay would be right there with her girlfriends instead of having to drown out chauvinistic remarks at work four times a week at that damn carpet mill.

"Okay? Great. The girls are gonna be real excited." Patrick stepped aside to let Daryl put his items on the counter to have Bay ring them up. His eyes were involuntarily drawn to the cut which still looked as bad as the night it happened.

"Ya should put something on that. Ain't healing well." he blushed and he cursed himself for doing it. She would only be even more convinced that he liked her if he did that, but it couldn't be helped. For whatever reason he felt mildly embarrassed to be talking to her with Patrick watching and listening. "Neosporin or shit like that. 'n put some band aids on it or something. Keeps it clean better."

"Yeah, you should listen to him. He knows that stuff. He grew up hunting and cutting himself all the time." Patrick said and eyed the wound as well. "I reckon it's gonna leave a scar, though."

"Might, yeah. But shouldn't be too bad." Daryl muttered. He was an expert on scars after all.

"Still sucks for a girl, D. They worry 'bout this shit."

"Least she's alive." Daryl retorted quickly, feeling more at ease now, since Patrick's involvement had eased the tension a bit.

"That's true. Whoever the guy was who helped her,... he's a good one." Patrick said seriously, making Daryl avert his eyes and blush slightly once again.

"He is." Bay agreed, before she quickly told Daryl what he'd have to pay. "That'll be $11.95."

Daryl put a twenty dollar bill on the counter. For whatever reason he was avoiding accidentally touching her by putting the money directly into her hand. Something was telling him not to have his fingers touch hers. He had no idea why or what was wrong with him. There was some kind of shit going on inside of him and he had no idea what. It was unnerving. Had to do with this weird week. He was tired, he probably just needed a good night's sleep on Patrick's sofa.

"We'll see ya tonight, Bayanne." Patrick winked when their transaction was completed. "And you better keep your word and show up or we're gonna come and drag your ass down there."

"I don't think it will have to come to that. I tend to keep my promises." Bay smiled and waved slightly when the boys left the store.

* * *

"I know what you're doing! Ain't gonna work!" Daryl snarled as they sat back in his truck.

"Why? You think Jessa ain't gonna be excited when she sees Bayanne?" Patrick asked, knowing full well that it was not what Daryl had meant, but he just loved riling him up a little.

"You're tryin' ta hook us up! Just back the fuck off, it ain't like that with her." Daryl shouted angrily and was about to launch into another tirade, but Patrick's next words had him shut up quickly.

"Yeah, I know."

"You know?" Daryl was suddenly confused.

"You made it very clear that you don't like her, D. Why should I force her on you, if you don't like her."

"Exactly." Daryl muttered, relieved that he had gotten through to his friend.

"Just doin' something nice for the girls." Patrick said and took a swig from his soda bottle. "Besides, she's not into you either, so it would just be a waste of time for me to try and hook y'all up." Patrick quickly looked out the window after he had said it so he wouldn't laugh, because Daryl had looked pretty stunned there for a second at that last part.

Daryl's anger immediately dissipated, leaving him feeling somehow empty and pensive. _The hell?_ Why wasn't he happy? This was what he wanted, wasn't it? He didn't want her following him around like a lovesick puppy, so why wasn't he feeling happier? _Tired. Just gotta sleep, man. That's all it is. Weird week._

"Right." he finally said after a moment of silence. "Waste of time..." another moment of silence, then he brushed his hand through his shaggy hair, before he sighed. "Man, I'm gonna get shitfaced drunk tonight."

_No you won't_, Patrick thought with a little smile.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Thank you for all the follows and favorites and gosh, all those wonderful reviews. You make me speed write!**

**What do we think? Is Bay going through with her promise to show up or is she going to bail at the last minute?**

**Dearest Snowbird: Do not worry about a thing, you are not the only one who cries easily. I cry about 5 times a day, because of songs, commercials, my son, tv shows, etc. lol. I'm glad that you liked the part about the sidewalk painting. I think it's a nice way of showing just how much those kids are struggling to stay afloat. They do what they can. If they will always stay within the legal area remains to be seen. We know Bay is sometimes giving herself the five-finger-discount, lol, even though she is definitely not proud of it. I'm glad you enjoy it so far. I love readig from you and I hope you are doing well:)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Bay was in a really good mood when she got home around 3 pm that afternoon. Not only would she hang out with her best friends Jessa and Erin later, she would also have a wonderful rare treat for dessert today. Her co-worker Mary had brought doughnuts to work and had asked Bay to pick one for herself. She had carefully carried her little treasure home on a paper plate, smiling happily like an idiot, and it now sat on top of the fridge, waiting for her to finish her Yakisoba noodles with cheddar cheese flavor, she had gotten for free with the help of a coupon she had clipped from the paper. She tried to eat slowly, because she got tummy aches easily, but that sugary, glazed doughnut with colorful sprinkles was calling to her and seducing her to stuff herself with the noodles like she was dumping them down the garbage disposal. The image of herself throwing the contents on her plate into her face and chewing and swallowing everything she'd be able to catch with her mouth made her chuckle and shake her head at herself. She wouldn't waste food like that, even if it had been for free this time.

She tried take her mind off of the doughnut and thought about later that night. A part of her was unsure if she should really go. Daryl seriously hadn't looked happy when his friend Patrick had invited her and she actually might have imagined that nod. Bay knew how unpleasant it could be when someone you didn't like hung out with you and your friends. Jessa had a cousin, Tonya, who lived with her family in Alabama, but they had visited Jessa's family a couple of times a year and Jessa's parents had her take Tonya with her whenever the girls had been meeting up after school. Tonya was as arrogant as they come and not only did Jessa not even like her, but neither did Bay and Erin and the tension had always been palpable and the mood had been down in the dumps. Now Bay didn't want to ruin the evening for Daryl. She had already ruined his beauty sleep as a thanks for rescuing her, he would seriously start to hate her if she ruined hanging out with his guys as well.

_What do I care if he hates me or not?_ Bay chewed her food thoughtfully, her mood getting a little damper at her thoughts. _Because I can't stand people hating me. And the least I can do for him after risking his life for me, is not be selfish and leave his circle of friends alone. But I miss the girls so much... _Bay dropped her spoon and let herself drop on her back on her sofa-bed. Her fingers went to the cross around her neck, feeling the cold metal and tracing the shape. What in the world was she supposed to do? She had promised Patrick, she would hate to let him down, but then again, he was just trying to be nice after seeing her injuries, she reckoned. He wouldn't miss her if she didn't show up. She wished she would be able to please everyone at once, including herself, but something like that was just not possible. One of them would be unhappy tonight, either her or Daryl. It wasn't in her nature to be selfish... She wouldn't go.

Her heart sank a little when she made the decision to stay home, but if it was the way to pay Daryl back for his good deed, then she would pay that price of being sad for a night. She looked back at the top of the fridge. _Time for a little pick-me-up_. She rolled off her sofa-bed and trudged over to the fridge and picked up the delicious-looking pastry. She took a bite, and she swore that she heard a choir of angels sing heavenly tunes inside her head. Her eyes closed and with her back leaned against the fridge, she slid down until her ass hit the floor while she chewed slowly in bliss, only stopping to catch some frosting and sprinkles, that had stuck to her lips, with her tongue.

"Oh God!" she moaned. "This is so good it should be illegal. Mmmmmmm." She hadn't had a doughnut in months and she had always loved them. Cakes and pastries were her vice, she had never been able to say no, until she had started saving all the money she could and had denied herself all unnecessary pleasures. She was very much aware of the fact that she was being too hard on herself. She had two jobs that paid relatively well and in addition to that, she sometimes had an odd job here and there. A couple of hours of babysitting, or tutoring, or she would donate blood, things like that. She barely spent anything, she had money, she was able to afford nice meals or treats, but she couldn't do it. She just wasn't able to bring herself to spend more money than necessary. Bayanne wanted to go to college and be a psychiatrist later. She had promised her grandmother on her deathbed, that she would find a way to go back to school and make something of herself. In order to do that she would need to save up about 200,000 dollars to cover for getting her Bachelor's degree and then four years of medical school, and she was still a long way from having that kind of money. She also wouldn't be able to take too long to come up with that amount, mostly because she didn't want this kind of lifestyle to drag out for the next ten years. She would rather deny herself all kinds of luxuries for three years than wait six years or more until she was able to come up with the money. Once she was in the program, she wanted to focus on her studies and only work one part-time job, instead of having to practically split herself in half to get schoolwork done and work two jobs to pay for her apartment, food and tuition. She wasn't stupid, but studying had never come easy to her, because she was easily bored and distracted, so she had always had to work a bit harder to get good grades. She knew if she wouldn't have enough time in college to write papers and study for tests, because she had to work too much, then she would fail miserably and everything she was going through now, would have been in vain, which meant that failing was simply not an option.

She savored the incredible taste of the doughnut like it was the last she would ever eat. When it was gone she sucked her fingers clean and opened her eyes back up. She looked around her tiny apartment and decided what to do with her free time today, now that she was staying in tonight. _My bathroom could use some cleaning. Some dusting wouldn't hurt either. Okay, so I'll do the whole apartment, then I'll change the sheets on the sofa and then I'll relax and be lazy for the rest of the weekend. _With that plan in her head, Bayanne got up from the floor and got out the cleaning supplies from the cupboard under the sink. She changed the channel on the TV to MTV to have some music while she completed her chores, and went to work. It took her less than an hour to get everything done and after she finished the rest of her lunch, she changed into a tank top and sleep shorts, popped a VHS of her favorite Saved by the Bell episodes into her trusty old VCR, and laid down on her sofa-bed to watch them.

Her eyelids soon got heavier and heavier as she got sleepier and sleepier. It was only five-thirty pm, but she didn't fight the fatigue. Some rest would do her good, so she let herself drift off into sleep, hoping that tonight she would be nightmare-free.

* * *

Daryl wasn't able to focus on the conversation that was happening around him. He kept glancing at Patrick's watch. His friend was standing to his right, holding a beer, so Daryl had a perfect view of the time. It was eight pm already and Bayanne was a no-show. He refused to acknowledge the disappointment he felt, he straight up ignored it and focused on worrying instead. What if she had made her way towards the parking lot before dark, but something had happened to her yet again? The images from Monday night flashed up inside his head again. How those guys had her on the ground, one straddling her and beating her, while the other one had pinned her arms to the ground, rendering her absolutely helpless and at their mercy. What if those same guys had found her again and were taking their revenge out on her at this exact moment? The thought made his stomach churn and he grew more fidgety than he'd already been up until now.

Patrick felt Daryl's restlessness, because Daryl kept shifting his weight from foot to foot, and when Patrick looked over, he caught Daryl looking at the time while chewing his bottom lip nervously. Pat hadn't even realized how much time had already passed since they've all gathered here and that it was dark already. He suddenly became aware of the fact that Bayanne was not present. She had promised... _Great, now __**I'm**__ worried. _Patrick thought and turned his body towards Daryl and spoke to him in a low whisper, so the others wouldn't hear. "I think it's time for us to go check where Miss Bayanne is at. Told her we would drag her ass down here if she don't show. You're the only one who didn't have beer yet. You go."

"Maybe she changed her mind." Daryl wasn't sure if he said it to calm himself down or to convince Patrick to just let her be. _Don't fucking know what to do here. Don't want no one thinking I'm fucking sweet on her. Just worried that those fuckers tried something again._

"Too fucking bad that ain't an option tonight." Patrick grinned. "Go get her, tiger." _You know you want to._ Patrick snickered, making Daryl develop an urge to punch his best friend's lights out.

"Shut the fuck up." Always these little insinuations. _Go get her... Could have said 'Go and pick her up'._ Daryl didn't even realize that he was starting to put a little too much weight on the stuff Patrick said where Bayanne was concerned and that he was playing directly into Patrick's hands with his efforts to show him just how little he actually cared about that damn Bayanne girl. "Ain't like that." Daryl muttered once more, but more to himself, although Patrick heard him anyway.

"I know, D. I get it. Don't have to convince me." Patrick said as innocently as possible, having Daryl figuratively pulling his hair out. His best friend was driving him nuts these days. He could never tell when he was serious and when he wasn't anymore.

Daryl released an incoherent grunt and climbed into his truck, but not without staring daggers at Patrick, who just chuckled and wrapped his arm around Jessa.

"Where's Daryl going?" she asked when she saw him drive off.

"It's a surprise."

* * *

Bayanne woke with a little yelp as insistent knocking tore her out of her deep sleep. She felt disoriented for a moment, having no idea what time it was. She stumbled towards the door, her foot getting caught in the blanket and she fell to the floor in a very ungraceful matter. "Oooowwww." she winced and rubbed her elbow, which she had slammed against the edge of the coffee table.

Outside the door Daryl's eyes widened when he heard the noise of something dropping on the floor and Bay's pain-filled moan. Panic gripped his insides and his knocking became even more urgent and louder. "BAYANNE! Open the fucking door!"

"Keep your pants on. I'm coming." she shouted. She got up and walked the last couple of steps, until she realized that she didn't recognize the voice and didn't have any idea who was banging on her door. "Who is it?"

"Daryl!"

Her eyes widened and her heart started racing. _Daryl? Oh my God... he's making sure I'm not coming to the parking lot. Good call that I didn't go._ Bay opened the door and started explaining herself right away. "I wasn't gonna come. Don't worry. I was already sleeping. I'm not gonna bother you and ruin your night."

Daryl didn't know what hit him, he didn't really listen to what she was saying, he was speechless for a moment when he took in her rumpled appearance. _Shit. Why she gotta be so damn cute? _His stomach was doing funny things and he reflexively rested his palm on it like it would help calm it down. _Shouldn't have eaten that damn burrito. Knew it smelled funny. Okay, what in the world is she ramblin' about? She wasn't gonna come? Ruin my night? The hell?_

"You promised." he finally interrupted her rant, while his eyes scanned the apartment behind her, making sure nobody else was there.

"What?"

"You promised you'd come. So why ain't ya dressed and on your damn way? We were waiting." he asked gruffly, doing a great job of intimidating her and making her blush and grasp for words.

"Oh... umm... I..."

"You what?"

"I didn't... I-"

"You at least put something on that cut like I told ya to?"

"Umm... no." Bay felt like she was being scolded like a naughty child, she even averted her eyes guiltily and did some lip-chewing on her own.

"Fucking hell, girl. What happened just now? Ya hurt yourself more?"

"I fell,... hurt my elbow." she muttered and looked down at her arm.

"Let's take a look at that. Come on." he entered her apartment without being invited and closed the door behind him. "Show me." he motioned towards the elbow in question and he crouched down a little do get a good look, but he was very careful not to touch it.

"It's not bad. Just hurt when I hit the table."

"Yeah. Seems right." Daryl straightened and shoved his right hand into his pants pocket. "Here. Put that on your cut." he handed her a tube of Neosporin extra strength and a long strip of band-aid.

"Oh... thanks." Bayanne gave him a grateful smile as she accepted the items. Then she stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

"Whatchu waiting for? Put it on." Daryl commanded her and Bay jumped a little and sprang into action. _Geez, he's so bossy. But he brought me the ointment, that's really nice. _Bay squirted some on her finger and looked up at him, waiting for him to turn around and look away, but he didn't. The thought didn't even cross his mind. Bay turned her back on him and startled, when she suddenly heard his voice close to her ear and she almost head-butted him when she turned her head to look at him. He was a bit clueless and was really thinking nothing of it by looking over her shoulder and down her cleavage.

"Don't rub. Just dab, alright? Never rub." he instructed her and watched her finger closely, making sure she was doing it right.

Bay nodded and blushed a little when she pulled her tank top down just an inch to get the rest of the cut. She wasn't wearing a bra, which should be obvious by now, but she was still very much covered. She didn't feel uncomfortable, otherwise she would have told him to avert his eyes. The situation wasn't sexual at all, it was weirdly intimate and very new, though, and that was what made her blush. Daryl eventually looked up and watched her face when she grabbed the band-aid. A smile was tugging at his lips when he noticed how her lips were pressed together and her tongue was peeking out as she focused on the task at hand. Just when the band-aid was in place, her head suddenly whipped up and she looked at him with a shocked expression. "Oh God..."

"What?" Daryl frowned in confusion.

Bay blushed a deep, dark red and quickly slapped her hands over her eyes. "You saw them, didn't you? That night?"

"Saw who?"

"Them." she waved her hands around her chest area, not looking at him.

"Oh..." he cleared his throat and blushed a little himself. "Guess so, yeah. Didn't ogle ya. Ain't like that, if that helps ya any." he reached his hand out to touch her arm gently in reassurance, but caught himself quickly before he made contact, and took a step back instead.

"Maybe a little." Bay rubbed her face which was still deep red.

"You gon' get dressed and come with me now or what?" he just wasn't able to keep himself from being gruff. He felt so out of his element right now, he felt more comfortable being able to hide behind that facade.

"You sure you want that? You didn't seem happy when Patrick asked me to come." Bay only dared to look at him for seconds at a time, the whole thing was so weird.

"Wasn't about you. Don't mind you hanging out with us. Come on. Wanna get back."

"Okay. Give me two minutes." she went to the walk-in closet and grabbed a pair of jeans and a simple black tank top. She gave him a small close-lipped smile when she passed him on the way to the bathroom, which Daryl returned ever so slightly. His mood was improving a little and he looked forward to being back with the guys and the beer. Goddamn he needed a beer.

Bayanne dressed and brushed her hair, then she came back out and turned off the TV and grabbed her keys. "I'm ready."

"Alright, let's go then." he said and led the way to his truck. What followed was a ten minute drive in awkward silence, neither of them knowing what to say and both of them relieved, when he pulled onto the parking lot.

* * *

"Surprise, baby." Pat grinned at Jessa when Daryl parked his truck next to the others.

"What?" Jessa looked up at him questioningly.

"Look over there." he pointed to Daryl's car and the person who was just now appearing from behind it. Jessa looked where he pointed and immediately released a loud squeal.

"No way! Oh my God Baaaaaaayyy!" Jessa stormed towards her and hugged her, almost tackling her to the ground in the process.

"Hey, careful." Daryl warned Jessa as he walked past the two girls, only to almost get run over by the little blonde whirlwind that was Erin, who had realized what was happening. "Jesus Christ, watch it. And don't fucking crush her." he grumbled, but he was sporting a little smile when he reclaimed his spot next to Patrick, who handed him a beer.

"Leave them be, they're happy." Patrick smiled.

"Bayanne's hurt." Daryl simply stated to justify his reaction.

"She don't seem to be complaining." Patrick chuckled at Daryl's fussing._ He just can't help himself._

"Shut up." Daryl muttered and took a long swig from the bottle. They looked over at the girls and watched them hug and break out into chatter, like they hadn't just seen each other for the first time in months.

"Bay, sweetie, what happened to you?" Erin asked with concern as she saw the fading bruises on her friend's face.

"Oh nothing... just got a little roughed up walking home at night."

"Oh God, are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm good, don't worry. I had help." Bay smiled. Then Jessa leaned in and whispered into her ear.

"What's with you and Daryl? You guys got something going on?"

"Oh no! No... just Patrick and him, they were in the store this morning and Patrick told me that you guys were together and that you would be happy if I'd join you and I guess when I didn't show he made Daryl come get me."

"You wanted to bail?" Jessa exclaimed with a laugh. "Should we be insulted here?"

"No, no. I just fell asleep I guess. It was a long week." Bay fibbed a little, not wanting to get into the whole Daryl thing with him and Patrick watching them.

"It's so good to have you here, Bay. Come on, let's get you a beer and then we'll catch up." Erin took her hand and pulled Bay with her to her boyfriend Sam's pick-up truck. Their little trip was interrupted when Tommy Delgado stepped forward and enveloped Bay in a bear hug.

Without even realizing he was doing it, Daryl, who had been leaned back casually against Jason's car, stood up straight, with his fists clenched and his teeth gritted, ready for action. _The fuck is he doing? What's with everybody fucking touching her?_

"Calm down, tiger." Patrick put his hand on Daryl's arm and pulled him back against the car. "They had classes together, they were friends. Ain't no one gonna rape her 'round here."

There was that feeling again. That weird feeling he'd had when Patrick had touched Bayanne's chin, only this time it was much stronger as Daryl watched both of Tommy's hands slowly rub up and down Bayanne's back. It was a purely friendly gesture between two old pals, but to Daryl it looked very different. Within seconds Tommy Delgado had made it to the top of Daryl's personal shit list. _Gonna keep my eye on that fucker._

That little change in Daryl's posture hadn't gone completely unnoticed. All the guys that had seen it knew immediately what was going on. The only one who had no clue as to what was going on with him was Daryl himself. The guys exchanged knowing glances and little smirks, but Daryl didn't notice, his eyes were fixated on Tommy and Bay who kept chatting, until Erin grabbed her hand again and climbed with her into the truck-bed of Sam's truck and handed her a beer. Daryl kept giving Tommy the evil eye as he quickly downed the rest of his beer and grabbed himself another bottle right away, letting the alcohol soothe him. The second one he drank much slower, only nipping a bit every couple of minutes, his subconscious wasn't letting him get drunk... It also didn't let him keep his eyes off of Bayanne.

He tried. He really, really tried not to look over there too often, but his gaze kept trailing there ever so often, straining his ears, trying to pick up a snippet of their conversation, but they were too far away and the voices of the other guys were overpowering theirs, frustrating the hell out of him. About an hour later one of the guys left and came back with pizza for everyone. Bay, Erin and Daryl were the last ones to grab a slice and he watched with interest just how much Bay enjoyed her slice.

"Oh God, today is the best day!" she moaned. "First a doughnut and now pizza. Haven't had those in months."

"I don't know how you do it, Bay. I'd die." Erin said around a mouthful of pizza.

"Are you kidding me? You're super disciplined. You would be able to do it in a heartbeat. You'd get used to it, just like I did."

"Get used to what?" Daryl wasn't able to stifle his curiosity, but he asked Erin rather than Bay, to keep up appearances, not knowing that it was already in vain.

"Get used to having two jobs and live like she does."

"You got two jobs? What else you do?" This time Daryl addressed her directly, thanks to the beer in his system he was a bit more mellow, although he was still jittery about having all of them watch.

"I work at the carpet factory four times a week after my shift at the store." Bay replied. The answer caused Daryl to come up with some follow-up questions.

"The carpet mill? What you do there? Office stuff?"

"Pfff, I wish." Bay laughed a little. "No, I pack up the carpet rolls for delivery, label them and put them on the pallets."

"You're kidding." Daryl gaped at her a little.

"No, why?"

"I did that for about two fucking weeks right after school. Then I quit cause it fucking sucked. How you get those damn rolls lifted anyway?"

"I'm stronger than I look. It does suck, I hurt all over when I'm done, but the money is decent." Bay smiled before she finished her slice.

"Damn, girl. You gon' break your back there one of these days. So you walk home late at night four times a week?"

"Yes. It's not that bad, the factory is close. It's worse when the shifts get moved around and I get the late shift at the store. Can't say I look forward to the next time." Bay sighed and wiped her hands on her jeans.

_Neither do I,_ Daryl thought and nodded.

While they talked and ate, Jessa was at Patrick's side, watching Daryl and Bay with a huge grin. "Daryl is so obvious." she giggled quietly. "Saw him look at her the whole time earlier. What's the deal with them? Bay didn't say anything about it."

"He denies it, but he's into her."

"You bet your cute ass he is." Jessa agreed wholeheartedly. "Daryl's got a crush. That's so cute. And on Bay! That's just awesome."

"She ever say anything about him?" Patrick asked her as he pulled her closer to his body.

"She used to think he was cute. And from how nervous she is, I think she has a crush on him as well."

"That's what I think,too. Wanna know what else I think? They're both into each other and don't even realize it."

"Wanna play matchmaker?"

"Already have." Patrick winked at her cheekily. "The rest they gotta figure out on their own. I'll only step back in if they are too blind to figure it out."

"Sounds like a plan." Jessa agreed and turned her back on them, giving her boyfriend some sugar for surprising her today.

Daryl meanwhile cleared his throat after a little awkward pause. "Sounds like you're busy a lot."

"Kind of, yeah. Four days a week I leave at five in the morning and don't get back until eleven at night."

"What you do on the other three days when ya have time?"

"Sometimes I do some babysitting or tutoring. If I don't have anything like that lined up, I mostly stay home, watch TV, clean... Pretty boring..." Bay blushed and looked at the ground where she was kicking at imaginary pebbles with the toe of her Doc Martens boots. _Way to sell yourself, Moore. He's gotta think you're some kind of grandma. Or a hermit. A boring hermit. _

"Good if ya come out with us a couple times a week then. Ya gotta live a little. Your life ain't over yet." Daryl gave her that tiny smile where the corners of his mouth lifted a little, making Bay blush even harder and quickly look back down at the ground with a giggle.

"I guess you're right. Yeah." she bit her lip and peeked up at him a moment, giving Daryl a visual that made his stomach do those funny flip-flop things again. He'd never really seen her eyes up-close like this, which made him realize, that they were standing pretty close together. He honestly couldn't say that he minded, it actually felt kinda comfortable. Right now, he blamed it on the beer for relaxing him. Bay cleared her throat and pushed her hands deeply into the pockets of her jeans. "I gotta say, today is the happiest I felt in a long time. Good thing you made me come."

"Yeah." Daryl agreed and fell silent again. _Fuck, I'm just shitty at this. The fuck do I say now? Gotta say something, come on. Think, you idiot._

"Oh... okay..." Bay's voice made him focus back on her and he saw her looking around. He followed suit and let his gaze sweep over the rest of the group. There were only couples in attendance today. Couples and Bay and Daryl. And those couples were all in the process of making out heavily, leaving no one else around to talk to for the both of them. The slightly embarrassed silence between them was deafening, both at a loss of what to do or to say. They stood there side by side, both with their hands in their pockets, looking everywhere but at each other for a handful of minutes.

Finally Bay cleared her throat. "Well,... this is awkward..."

"Ya think?" Daryl snorted humorously and actually laughed a little. Bay was a bit dazed by the sight of it. _Sweet Lord, he is gorgeous!_ Suddenly she felt her heart flutter, making her freeze and hold her breath as a sliver of panic went through her, because suddenly her weird involuntary reactions to him made sense. _Oh God, no! Not on him! I can't have a crush on him! Not gonna happen, no no no no no. I was just surprised, that's all. He has a nice smile, that's all. I'm just very happy today, that's all. Right? Right!_

"Right." she breathed out loud.

"What?" Daryl frowned at her.

"Oh, nothing..." she was blushing yet again and hoped he wouldn't notice. A moment later she felt his elbow bumping her arm slightly. When she looked up at him he was jerking his head to the side, motioning towards his truck.

"Come on."

"Why? Where are we going?" she was more than a little flustered since her heart had done that stupid thing.

"Just over there. Or you wanna stand here and keep watching?"

"Not really."

"Exactly. Come on." he said once more and turned around and walked to the passenger side door of his truck, with a very nervous Bay in tow.

* * *

**Little bit of a cliffhanger, sorry:)**

**Thank you for reading and following, favorite-ing and reviewing.**

**Dear Snowbird, we are doing well and I hope so are you. Patrick certainly knows what he's doing, doesn't he? He knows how to push Daryl just right. Back in the day me and my friends used to hang out in parking lots all the time. There was just nothing else to do and I read up on the town this story takes place in and it said that the kids hang out in the Wal Mart parking lot, fun coincidence. I love the awkwardness and shyness of those first few encounters with your crush, gotta enjoy it before they get comfortable around each other, lol. xoxox**


	5. Chapter 5

**There is now a tumblr up for this story. Go to his-walls dot tumblr dot com or click the link on my profile. I also had to change my pen name due to personal reasons. Nothing should change for you. If you are anything like me you mostly remember the story title instead of the writer's name anyway when looking for something, so all should be fine:)  
**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Daryl leaned over the seat to turn the key in the ignition to let the radio spring to life and turned down the volume a little. _The fuck am I so damn nervous? Fucking Patrick with his little game, tryin' ta put ideas in ma head... She's just a girl. Just like the others._ While he tried to come up with something to say he smiled awkwardly, which she returned just as awkwardly, and delved his hands into his pockets. He felt the rectangular shape of his pack of cigarettes and quickly pulled it out. A smoke sounded good right about now. "You smoke?" he asked Bayanne, as he took a cigarette out of the almost full pack.

"Yes. Sometimes." As nervous as she was, she couldn't help but smile. She really was getting treated today. Doughnut, pizza, beer and now a cigarette. Just like the good old times, much to the dismay of her grandmother back in the day. Bayanne might have believed in God at one point in her life, she might have gone to church with her grandmother on Sundays and holidays and had worked hard at being good in school, but that didn't mean that she had been a goody-two-shoes. She and her friends had partied with alcohol, cigarettes and some weed occasionally, just like the rest of the kids in this town. What else was there to do around here? They were hanging out in a parking lot for God's sakes. There was nothing here.

Daryl put the cigarette between his lips and lit it for her, before he handed it over. Bay's heart started beating a little faster at that, and then there was that stupid flutter again. _Just happy about the cigarette, that's all. Although he has now kinda kissed me._ When she thought about Daryl kissing her she suddenly got that tingly feeling in her stomach, which felt dangerously much like butterflies. _Nope. No butterflies. I am not setting myself up for heartache here._

"Thanks." she smiled politely and took a careful first drag, closing her eyes at the sharp feeling of smoke filling her lungs. "So good." she moaned, almost making Daryl's head spin, because his 20 year old male brain was immediately thinking up another situation where she would moan those exact words. "Been too long."

Daryl discreetly adjusted himself while she wasn't looking and cleared his throat. "'nother thing ya didn't have in months?"

"Exactly."

"Why's that?" he lit his own cigarette. "Got two jobs... should be able to pay for this stuff. You get yourself in trouble?"

"No, I am trouble-free, thank God. I'm saving as much money as I can, because I wanna go to college. Preferably before I'm thirty years old, so I'm cutting back on everything unnecessary."

"And food is unnecessary? I mean, I get why ya skip nicotine,... but food?" he frowned at her, letting his eyes sweep up and down her slim body.

"Expensive food, yeah." Bay laughed quietly and took another drag from her smoke, enjoying it to the fullest.

"And what's expensive food to ya?" he was starting to relax a little more and casually leaned sideways against his truck, facing her and now studying her, while he made sure not to exhale his smoke directly into her face.

"Pretty much everything I can't get for free or for very little money." Bay explained and tried to ignore the next flutter inside of her, when he had situated himself a bit closer to her. _Nobody should look this good when smoking. Why does he have to look so good? Stupid blue eyes. I don't even like blue eyes..._

"What you eat then?"

"Rice or noodles with ketchup." Bay replied and almost laugh at his disgusted expression.

"Every day?"

"Yes."

"That's all?"

"Sometimes a peanut butter &amp; jelly sandwich or what I can swipe from work." She blushed at the last part. She hadn't actually wanted to admit that she was stealing. Daryl, however, acted like he hadn't heard and for that she was grateful.

"What about meat? Ya ain't one of 'em veggie people, are ya?"

"No, I'm not. Meat is expensive, though. Can't bring myself to spend the money for it."

"But ya need it, Bay. Can't live off of fucking rice all the time." Daryl argued, but Bay just shrugged. "Gotta agree with your friend. Don't know how ya do it." _Ain't good for ya either. Damn girl, ya oughta start taking better care of yourself._

"Becomes a habit after a month or two." She took the last drag from her cigarette before she let it fall to the ground where she put it out with her boot.

"Looks like." Daryl nodded before silence descended upon them again. The silence between them made them both aware of UB40's 'Can't help falling in love' playing on the radio, and it made them both (separately) feel even more awkward.

_Wise men say_  
_Only fools rush in_  
_But I can't help_  
_Falling in love with you_

_Shall I stay_  
_Would it be a sin_  
_If I can't help_  
_Falling in love with you_

_As a river flows_  
_Gently to the sea_  
_Darling so it goes_  
_Some things are meant to be_

_Take my hand_  
_Take my whole life too_  
_Cause I can't help_  
_Falling in love with you_

Both avoided eye contact while the song played, and Bay fumbled with her cross necklace. _This is __**not**__a sign. It's the radio, nobody put this on on purpose. Coincidence. Simply a coincidence. _Still, for all the arguing she did with herself, she couldn't help but feel that whatever powers were up there, were laughing at her.

* * *

"Are they kissing yet?" Erin was trying to get a glimpse of the couple, but the others were taller than her and she couldn't see right.

"Shhhhhhhhhh! Be quiet! You want them to know we're watching them?" Jessa admonished the tiny blonde.

"No, but I can't see. Sam, let me hop on your back!"

"I won't let you hop on my back. Daryl will sure notice that movement." Sam whispered back.

"So are they kissing yet?" Erin asked impatiently and was pouting a little, because she was the only one who wasn't able to see for herself.

"Far from it. Those two idiots ain't even looking at each other. They're standing close, but they are both looking at the damn ground." Patrick informed her while he shook his head in frustration. "Come on, D! She's cold, put your damn arm around her. You got her alone, what more do ya need?"

"This isn't gonna work." Sam said and all of them nodded in agreement.

"Bay for sure isn't gonna make the first move. She never approached any guys. She never recognizes or believes when someone is interested in her." Jessa explained and looked at Patrick questioningly when he looked at her with raised eyebrows. "What?"

"Oh come on, she had that thing with Steve Connelly."

"They kissed once at a party. It was just kissing, not even groping or anything. He made that up. Alcohol was involved and she wasn't all that into it. If something's gonna happen here, it's gotta come from Daryl."

"Yeah, then this isn't gonna work for sure." Patrick scoffed quietly. "Guess we gotta give them a couple more pushes. Come on, let's get back to the others. Ain't nothin' to see here."

* * *

Bay and Daryl exchanged shy glances for a long time, until they both eventually burst out laughing a little at the situation.

"Can I ask you something?" Bay asked when the ice had been broken again.

"I ain't homeless. Not really." Daryl knew it was exactly what she had wanted to ask, when he saw her surprised expression.

"Then why were you there?" She asked. The thought that it might have had something to do with him wanting to keep an eye on her, never occurred to her.

"I stay with Pat,... most of the time. Used to live with my brother, but he's gone for a while and we kinda lost the apartment... Gonna get a new one when he gets back. Anyway, like I said, I stay with Pat, but when him and his girl get busy, I stay in my car, you know?"

"That's nice of you, but isn't that cold? You looked cold."

"Got used to it. Like you and the food thing." he shrugged like it wasn't a big deal.

"If I had known... You could have stayed with me I guess... inside..." Bay wasn't sure that she actually would have had the balls to offer him to stay, because she wouldn't have wanted him to think she was luring him into her cave or something like that, but then again, her grandmother had taught her manners. She wouldn't have let him freeze the whole night.

"I saw your place, remember? Ain't no room for me ta stay. You have the couch and nothing else." he laughed a little.

"I could have slept on the floor for a night. Wouldn't have been a big deal."

"That what ya think of me?" Daryl narrowed his eyes, feeling a bit insulted that she would think he would have taken her bed. "Think I'm the kinda guy who'd let a girl,... an injured girl, sleep on the damn floor?"

"No, that was not what I was saying, Daryl. But I would have offered. It would have been the least I could have done to pay you back for what you did."

"Already told ya, need no thanks for that."

The conversation was turning a bit sour, and Bay was wracking her brain to come up with something to steer it back into calmer waters, but she was at a loss. She could have screamed in relief when Jessa and Patrick came walking around the car.

"There you guys are. Having fun?" Patrick smiled and plucked a newly lit cigarette from Daryl's fingers. He didn't wait to get an answer. "Bayanne, some of us are going to the movies tomorrow. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. You in?"

"Ummm..." she hesitated. She didn't want to be a party-pooper, but she would have to spend five dollars for the damn ticket. Five dollars was nothing, but that voice inside her head, told her that she shouldn't do it. "I have to be at work early..."

"Not a problem, we're going in the afternoon when it's empty." Patrick took the wind right out of her sails. It was a lie, they hadn't planned to go in the afternoon, but he wanted her to come, because Daryl was going. Maybe in a dark movie theater one of them would nut up and make a move. From their whole body language, how they kept standing so close to each other and how they looked at each other, it was just so obvious there was some big attraction going on, they just weren't able to realize it and act on it by themselves.

"Leave her be, she don't wanna." Daryl shot a warning glance at Patrick.

"Bay, come on, you gotta come. It's gonna be so much fun." Jessa insisted.

"Yeah, totally. It's gonna be awesome. Come on, Bay. You know you wanna." Patrick grinned.

"Yeah Bay, don't be a fucking spoil sport. What you wanna do, stay home like some shut in and watch TV? That's just sad. You're 18, you gotta live it up a little. It's just a movie, what's the big deal?" Jessa kept urging her.

"I... uh..." Bay grew increasingly uncomfortable with the presence of Jessa and Patrick. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was going on here and that Jessa was not the girl she used to know anymore. She had changed a lot and not necessarily for the better. Looked like some of that pushy behavior of Patricks had transferred to her.

"Awesome. We'll pick you up at three!" Patrick steamrolled her with a grin, and something inside Bay cracked. She might be quiet and patient, but she was not a push-over. She was not a weak little girl that let a guy she barely knew take charge of her life.

"No, you won't pick me up at three." she stated in a firm voice and stared hard at Patrick, showing that she meant it. "I didn't say yes, did I? I'm not going. I don't want to. Not interested in the movie and not interested in having you eat each other up right next to me for 90 minutes. I thought you were a nice guy, Patrick, but you are clearly one of those men who hears 'yes' when a woman says 'no'. I seriously hope you don't treat her that way." Bay said and pointed at Jessa, who looked at her with wide eyes. .

"Bay, calm down. We were just joking around."

"I am calm. I'm simply do not wanna go and I'd appreciate if your boyfriend and you would accept my decision and not stomp all over it."

"Geez,... what the hell happened to you, Bay? You used to have a sense of humor." Jessa was still trying to laugh the whole thing off.

"I still have it, but this isn't funny." Actually the whole thing, in a way, reminded her of almost getting raped. She was sick and tired of people trying to force her to do something she didn't want to.

Daryl stood there and watched Bayanne with what could almost be described as a proud smile on his face. He felt the urge to clap and give her a standing ovation. Finally a girl who wasn't fazed by Patrick's pretty smile and his cocky charm. _You go girl! You tell him how it is! _Daryl had been ready to jump in, but then Bayanne had opened her mouth and surprised and impressed him. This girl was able to fight and stand up for herself and he found himself liking it. He wished she would keep going and give Patrick some more pieces of her mind, but now she had turned towards him again and was asking him something.

"Could you please take me home?" Bay was a bit confused when she noticed Daryl smiling at her, but she took it as a good sign. She had talked back to his best friend and usually it was bros over hoes, wasn't it? Seemed like Daryl thought that Patrick had it coming. _Good for Daryl._

Good thing that he'd only had one and a half beers, he was still able to drive. "Sure, get in."

"Bay wait." Patrick gently grabbed her arm. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be rude. We were having a good time and I got a bit overzealous. Don't go yet. Let's have another beer and just hang out." Patrick wanted to kick himself. He had wanted to help Daryl and now he had screwed it up. Shit like that always happened with him and he got himself into trouble. Once again, that was why Daryl was the smarter one out of the two of them. He was more careful with things like that.

"I really wanna go. I'm tired and it's been a really long week. Bye." Bay murmured and got into the passenger seat. Daryl closed the door for her and bumped into Patrick on purpose, giving him a look that said he was pissed with his friend. Patrick had the decency to look uncomfortable, but Jessa was giving her a bit of an evil eye. Bayanne didn't care. Seemed like they both had changed in the past year. She wasn't a big fan of being alone, but she sure as hell didn't need friends like Jessa who would walk all over her and let her boyfriend to the same. At least Erin was still the sweet person she always had been. Maybe she would be able to keep in touch with her somehow.

* * *

Daryl wasn't able to stop smirking. That scene from just a couple of minutes ago kept replaying over and over in his head and it made him inexplicably happy and damn proud. He now knew that, if her attackers hadn't physically overpowered her, that that damn Bayanne girl would haven given them hell herself. He wondered if she knew how to shoot. Maybe he should try to hook her up with her own gun to protect herself with at night when she was walking home alone.

"Did I ruin your night?" Bay asked when they were almost at her building.

"You kiddin'? Think you just fucking made my night." Daryl laughed a bit, causing Bay to smile and blush a little. _Stupid butterflies._

"I'm glad. I didn't wanna make a scene, but I can't stand getting steamrolled like that."

"That's good. Good that ya ain't taking shit from no one."

"Is he always like that?" Bay asked next and wondered why Daryl was friends with him, if he indeed acted like that all the time.

"He ain't that bad. Not usually..." Daryl trailed off and hesitated to explain to her, why exactly Patrick had acted like that. "I told him. What happened..."

"Okay." Bay frowned, not quite sure what that had to do with anything.

"Now he's got this idea in his head... Wants us ta hook up, 'cause he thinks I like ya or something." he explained as casually as possible and quickly added the next part. "I don't though! I don't like ya. In case ya were thinking that, too, 'cause I slept outside your place. But I don't, okay? Not like **that** anyway." Daryl wasn't sure what it was, but he felt a little twinge inside his stomach when he said it and it did not make him feel good at all.

_Ouch. That hurt more than I thought it would._ Bay tried not to let that punch in the gut show and smiled as coolly as possible. "I wasn't. Thinking that, I mean. I didn't think it had anything to do with me. Still don't. But I figured that Patrick was trying something along those lines. Now he knows not to do it anymore and to leave us alone. I don't think I'll hang out with you guys much in the future... if at all."

"Told ya, I don't mind."

"It's not because of you. I guess my friends and I just drifted apart. That wasn't the Jessa I used to know and I don't know if I like that new version. Or did I overreact? I just don't want to get forced to do something I don't feel comfortable with. Would be like Monday night all over again." Bay murmured and looked out the window at the front door of her building while he parked.

"Nah, it was good what ya did." he smiled slightly and started chewing his lip when he got nervous. Here they were, in front of her apartment. Should he kill the engine, let her know he was willing to spend some more time with her? _Why the fuck do I wanna spend more time with her? We never find shit to talk about._ Yet he was unwilling to let her go already. Her telling him she wasn't gonna hang out with his friends anymore made him feel kind of anxious.

"Thanks." Bay cleared her throat and was just about to say goodbye and put her hand on the door handle, when Daryl quickly spoke up.

"Ya want another smoke?"

"I could definitely use one, yeah." Bay laughed and felt weirdly relieved when Daryl turned of the motor. He stemmed his feet into the floor board and his back into his seat in order to lift his ass up from the seat a little, so he could reach the pack of cigarettes in his pocket. Just like last time he lit Bay's for her before he handed it over, once again careful to not let their fingers touch. "Thanks, Daryl."

"Welcome." he murmured and lit one for himself. "Gonna go to sleep once you're up there?"

"Probably. Not much else to do." _Except cry my eyes out. Should've stayed home. What a shitty week._ "And you? Going back there? Or home to Patrick's?"

"Patrick's. Jessa ain't stayin'. Something with her parents, dunno. Don't really care."

"Are you going to the movies tomorrow? With them?"

"I was going to, but you had a good point. Don't really feel like having ta listen to their softcore porn." Daryl sighed and grinned in surprise when Bay burst out laughing.

"Softcore porn? Seriously? It's that bad?"

"They ain't got no shame, let's leave it at that." Daryl chuckled and leaned his head back against the head-rest while he looked over at her.

"Poor guy." Bay smiled. Her position mirrored his and they shared a long look. He was looking directly into her eyes this time and Bay swore she felt something crackling in the air between them. Unfortunately she now knew, that it was just her, so she broke the eye-contact eventually and blushed under his intense gaze. She suddenly felt a bit overwhelmed. She didn't want this. She didn't want that flutter or those butterflies. She knew he'd never be interested in her and she had enough on her plate, she didn't need the pain of an unrequited crush in her life. Being around him felt good, but then again, it didn't. It was confusing as hell.

What she didn't know was, that Daryl wasn't doing much better. He'd avoided touching her fingers like she had the plague, but just know when he'd looked at her, and she had looked at him, he had felt the urge to reach over and take her hand in his. He'd never felt an urge like this before. He was no stranger to urges. Quite the opposite, he had a healthy set of them. He was familiar with seeking sexual release without any emotional connection whatsoever, he had sexual fantasies, he was a young red-blooded male after all, but he had never ever felt the urge to just hold someone's hand and it was a damn mystery to him. He wasn't able to figure out what it meant. _She nice. Guess I feel sorry for her. Ain't got it easy and now her friend kinda tried to fuck her over._

"Guess I'll let you get home now. Thank you for taking me." Bay said and stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray inside the car.

_Why she gotta say shit like that? Thanks for making me come, thanks for taking me... Moan like a bitch in heat just 'cause of a cigarette... Man that shit really ain't funny._ Sometimes it sucked to be a 20 year old guy. It wasn't just some kind of cliché, it was fucking true, they really did think about sex all the damn time. Last year him and Patrick had been watching TV and this Buffy show had been on. One of the guys in the show had said 'I'm seventeen, looking at linoleum makes me wanna have sex!' and that was the goddamn truth. That's why all kinds of images immediately started flashing inside his mind when she said those things, and to top it all off, he knew what her tits looked like. A long 'shower' was most definitely in order tonight. He had some major steam to blow off.

Had he actually heard her? Bay wasn't sure, but Daryl seemed lost in thought. She cleared her throat to get his attention and repeated what she had said. "I'll let you get home. Thanks for driving me home, Daryl."

"Ain't nothing." he murmured with his smooth, soft voice.

"Good night. I'll see you around." Bay opened the door and got out.

"See ya." Daryl replied before she slammed the door closed. He waited until she was inside and the lights got turned on in her apartment, then he left for Patrick's, hoping that his friend wasn't home yet, so he could make good use of the shower.

* * *

The lights were on, which meant that Patrick was home already. Daryl groaned inwardly. He hoped that Jessa hadn't changed her mind and had accompanied her boyfriend home. Daryl wasn't feeling like spending tonight in his truck, all he wanted was a shower and to spread out on the couch. He parked his truck out front and entered the building, leaping up the stairs two steps at a time instead of getting into the old elevator. He didn't trust that thing and he'd fancy getting stuck in there even less than spending the night sleeping on the backseat of his truck. When he reached the door to the apartment he currently shared with Patrick, he carefully listened for sex noises before he entered. All he heard was the TV though, so he used his key and went inside.

Patrick was lounging in his recliner, drinking a coke and eating potato chips. "Hey man."

"Home already?" Daryl questioned as he threw his keys on the table.

"Left right after you guys. Mood was kinda down in the dumps." Patrick muttered and watched Daryl strut toward the bathroom. "I'm sorry 'bout what I did back there."

"Not now." Daryl cut him off before Pat was able to say any more, and slammed the bathroom door behind him, locking it for good measure. Didn't need Pat to walk in to take a piss. He had barely set a foot in the shower when the images started flashing inside his brain, that made his dick harden almost instantly. Some tiny, faceless brunette kneeling in front of him and going to town on his dick. He wrapped his hand around his length, not bothering with starting out slow, he wanted to get it over with and was going for the quickest way to achieve his release. He chose a fast and steady rhythm as he closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against his forearm, which he had placed against the cool, white wall tiles. _"So good"_, he heard Bayanne's moan from earlier inside his head. The previous image changed and the faceless girl now had beautiful, large hazel eyes, Bay's eyes, that were looking up at him while she moaned with Bay's voice. Hell it was Bay that was making him feel good in this little fantasy. She made her tongue pointy and with the very tip of it she now drew slow circles on the tip of his dick. Heat spread through Daryl's body like a wildfire, it felt like it was prickling from his shoulders all the way down to his toes, making him shudder, and he wasn't able to stifle the helpless moan that bubbled up his throat. He came within two minutes, finishing all over his hand and belly where it got quickly washed away by the hot water that was steadily pouring over his head and body. _Much better. For now._ He knew the constant restlessness he felt pretty much 24/7 would be back soon.

A couple of minutes later he was dropping down on the couch in clean clothes and with wet hair. Pat was watching some kind of crime show, but Daryl didn't really pay attention to it. He just closed his eyes and tried to doze a little.

"I really am sorry, ya know?" Patrick spoke up again, making his best friend sigh.

"Ain't me ya gotta apologize to. I'm used ta you bein' a dickhead."

"Next time we hang, I'll apologize to Bay."

"Good luck with that. She ain't gonna hang with us no more. Told me when I took her home."

"Fuck. I'm sorry man." Patrick felt bad, now he had seriously ruined all chances of them ever getting together.

"Why? What do I care if she hangs with us or not?" _Liar, _his own subconscious yelled at him. _Yeah okay, maybe she would have made a good friend, but that's it._

"Come on, really dude?" Patrick couldn't believe that Daryl was still denying feeling something for Bayanne.

"Yeah, really. Ain't ever saying this again, so listen closely. I. Ain't. Into. Her. Don't love her or nothin', ya got that? Sick and tired of this shit." Daryl told him sharply. "Told her, too, so back off this thing, alright?"

Patrick almost fell out of his recliner in shock. "You told her, too? Holy hell,... like, she say somethin'? That she was interested and you turned her down?"

"Nah, just told her that you were tryin' ta hook us up. Told her jus' 'cause I stayed in front of her place that don't mean I like her and that I really don't like her like that. So now we are all clear on that. You can cut out your fucked up game now. If ya ever mention it again or try some shit, I'll whack ya with a damn beer bottle." Daryl threatened while he kept pointing his index finger at his shocked friend.

_That goddamn idiot. He told her he wasn't interested. Great, least now I'm not the only one who ruined it. Or was I wrong? Maybe he really ain't into her? But come on, all those looks and their body language... I can't be __**that **__fucking wrong. Well, guess that ship's definitely sailed and Daryl ain't gonna happen. Too bad. _"Alright. Got it. Done with that shit now." Patrick sighed. No more meddling or trying to set them up, that was alright with him, but it still irked him that he had apparently misinterpreted Daryl's behavior a lot. That or Daryl was even more clueless and stubborn than he'd ever thought possible.

* * *

While Daryl was in denial and Patrick had given up, an overwhelmed and confused Bay was laying on the sofa in her dark apartment. She was in the fetal position, hugging her knees to her chest and she was crying and quietly talking to herself. "I'm so damn stupid. I never cried over no boy, why am I starting now? I don't even want to like him, those damn butterflies are maybe just because he saved me heroically. I knew a guy like him is completely out of my league and he'd never be interested. I know all that, I'm not asking for him to like me so why in the world do I have to cry?" she sniffed and wiped some tears away with her hands. "What a horrible week. Why did he have to come and get me? Especially if he doesn't even like me at all? Why did he have to bring me that damn ointment? Why is he so nice if he doesn't even like me?"

She had been rejected, without even so much as flirting with him. Bay may lead the life of an adult for the most part, but on the inside she was still a girl which had only been out of school for less than a full year. All these things confused her and it hurt when a cute boy told you that he didn't like you. She was practically still more of a teenager than an adult and therefore she still had that famous selective hearing a lot of teens suffer from. She hadn't heard the part during which he had told her that he didn't like her like **that**. All she had heard was 'I don't like you. I really don't like you at all.' He'd just been nice, kind of doing some aftercare after that incident on Monday night. Now he had made sure she wouldn't die from an infection, now they would be back to being cashier and customer, nothing more and nothing less.

_I don't even want more than that._ Bay thought stubbornly. _Don't care if he likes me or not. This damn heart flutter was just a spur of the moment thing, just like the butterflies. Lapse in judgement or whatever. It was nothing. Will be gone again after today. Won't see him anymore except for when he shops at the store. I can just forget about all of this and carry on with my life._

Suddenly one of her favorite songs popped into her head and thinking of it as kind of fitting, she quietly started humming and singing to herself.

_Carry on, my wayward son_

_For there'll be peace when you are done_

_Lay your weary head to rest_

_Don't you cry no more_

She sang that chorus about four times and eventually did stop crying, but she felt silly. _Like singin to myself is gonna help. __No wonder he doesn't like you. You're still a silly girl. I wish you were here, granny. I could use some of your great advice. _However she would have to do without. Good thing she was used to things being tough, which was why she was also used to keeping her head up and pushing through all the bullshit. She didn't need anybody else around to complicate her life, she told herself, she was doing fine on her own. She would be a-okay.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**To the impatient ones;-) : Don't worry, we'll get there!**

**Hello, welcome and thanks to the new readers and followers, thank you for all your support.**

**Snowbird: Thank you so much for your reviews. Lol, I gave myself a craving for donuts with that last chapter. They are great, with cofee, with cappuccino, with hot chocolate, they are great period. I'm glad you still enjoy this. This was just the way most kids got together when I was that age. It was weird and awkward, innocent and kind of fun. I get the feeling that these days, kids think about sex much earlier than we did and with all that internet and social media we didn't have, I guess their experience nowadays is just different than ours has been. We didn't look people up on Facebook, we didn't have cellphones to text and call at any given time, there wasn't much on tv and hanging out on parking lots was the highlight of our day, lol. I miss those times. I hope that dog-sitting went well and you are back home safe and sound:) Until next time.**


	6. Chapter 6

**First of all, I have to apologize to my guest reviewers. I am the worst, I am so so sorry, I totally forgot to thank you in my previous chapters. Please accept my sincerest apologies. I will make sure it will not happen again. Here is a Bay/Daryl filled chapter for you, hope you enjoy.**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

He had no idea how it had happened. Not really. He must have blacked out and was just now waking up. But then, why wasn't he surprised by where exactly he had found himself 'waking up'? 48 hours had passed since Daryl had taken Bay home and since he had convinced Patrick that he had no interest in Bay whatsoever, yet the pretty girl had found her way into his thoughts more than he'd like to admit. And now, here he was. It was past ten pm on Monday night and he was parked in front of the carpet factory, waiting for Bay to come out, in order to give her a ride home and to give her one of the two burgers with fries he had bought less than half an hour earlier. _Just making sure she gets home safe and that she's got something to eat. Girl needs some meat or she's gon' keel over soon. _He tried to tell himself that that was all it was, that he was just trying to get her to take better care of herself, but by now doubts about his motives were nagging at him. If he had no interest in her at all, then why did he keep seeking her out? Why did his stomach keep doing weird things when he thought about the times they had talked and had been alone together. Why did he have trouble breathing when he remembered how she had looked into his eyes Saturday night, when they'd had that last smoke in his car? Why did he keep thinking about those things anyway? Why was he thinking about her as soon as he woke up in the morning? Why had he thought about going to see her on Sunday while the others had gone to the movies? It was driving him insane. He'd practically spent all Sunday and today thinking about her, replaying their moments together over and over again inside his head. Why did it keep happening?

_Because Pat is right and you like her, _a little voice in the far far back of his head whispered to him and caused a strong feeling of panic to spread through him, because for a second he admitted to himself, that that voice might be right. However, he only admitted it for that tiny second, before he pushed all those pesky feelings and revelations down and ignored them as best as he could. That nagging feeling didn't go away, though. It was like a tiny hammer was knocking against one of his very sturdy walls, chipping away tiny piece after tiny piece of solid concrete, slowly yet steadily,unnerving him a bit. It might have started a long time ago. He'd been in that damn store every single fucking day since she started working there, whether he really needed something or not.

_There she is. _Daryl spied Bayanne walking out the gate, looking like she was tired and aching all over. He knew she had to be hurting, he'd worked that job himself for about two weeks and it really puts a strain on the arms and back, and she was so damn tiny, he really wondered how she did it. He slammed his hand down on the steering wheel to honk, having Bay jump in shock and clutch at her chest. She turned in his direction and squinted lightly in the dark.

"Daryl?" Bay was surprised to see him and a little part of her was jumping in joy. She had been a bit anxious yesterday, wondering if he would show up and drag her to the movie theater, and almost found herself wishing he would. That little part wasn't quite ready to go back to their previous cashier and costumer relationship, and it was excited to see him waiting for her. The rational part of her wondered what the hell he was doing and if she should really get in his car and let him take her home. His behavior was plain confusing. She hesitated and bit her lip while she looked at his car.

"Come on. What are you waiting for?" Daryl mumbled to himself as he watched her, feeling a bit anxious himself right now. It felt like hours had passed when Bay finally crossed the street and walked towards his truck. She didn't look at him, knowing she would blush a dark red, and after he had made it clear that he didn't like her, she didn't want him to see that. She opened the door and got in, only then sending him a shy glance and the hint of a smile.

"Hey."

"Hey." Daryl offered her that tiny smile where only the corners of his mouth were tugged up slightly. "Doin' okay?"

"Yeah. You?"

"Same." he started the car and started driving. "Hungry? Got a burger and some fries you can have."

_What the fuck?_ Bay was usually not in the habit of swearing, but Daryl was seriously screwing with her head. He was picking her up, driving her home and now he was feeding her as well? It was totally bewildering. What the hell was she supposed to think about that? Talk about sending mixed signals. "I'm good, thanks." she declined politely.

"Come on, you gotta eat, Bayanne." _If I buy the damn thing for you, you better damn well eat it. _That was the part he had conveniently left out, though. He hadn't told her that he had bought it for her. He'd made it sound like it was leftovers and Bay didn't want to 'steal' food from him.

"Why don't you just keep it? You might get hungry later or you can eat it tomorrow." Bay argued, but Daryl shook his head.

"Nah. I want **you **to eat it, alright? Just do me that fucking favor." he said more forcefully than necessary and Bay's eyes widened in response to it.

"Okay... I will." she finally agreed. "No need to get loud." she muttered, which made Daryl laugh a little.

"Ain't ma fault that you're fucking stubborn."

"Did you just call me stubborn?" Bay jokingly narrowed her eyes at him. Daryl just shrugged with that little smile clearly teasing her a little. Bay shook her head with a smile. "I'm not stubborn, I just didn't want to take any food away from you."

"Wouldn't offer if I'd want it for myself. Best remember that, Bayanne. I don't do nothing I don't wanna do, alright?"

"Alright." Bay tried not to smirk. He had a unique way of saying her name. Out of his mouth it almost sounded like a curse word, because he pretty much spat out the 'Anne', giving it a rough edge. Even though it might as well have been a curse word when he said it, Bay kind of liked it. He was the only one to do it like that, there was no mistaking who was talking to her and that little giddy part inside of her that might or might not be developing a crush on him, was excited about it. "Are you going to watch me eat it, too?"

"You can bet your ass on that. Gotta make sure that ya ain't gonna give it to one of the homeless guys on your street." he smiled for a short moment, then he unconsciously chewed on his bottom lip for another moment, before he finished what he wanted to say. "I ain't had mine yet,... Figure we could... ummm... eat... uumm,... in here... before ya go upstairs... ya know?"

_What in the world? Now he wants to have dinner together? Okay, he really couldn't be more confusing if he tried. Maybe he gets lonely or bored or something when Jessa stays with Patrick. But doesn't he have an ass-load of other friends? He's gonna break my brain with this kind of behavior. _Bay frowned, giving Daryl the impression that she didn't feel like staying in the truck for a bit longer, like on Saturday night.

"Or not. Don't care. Whatever. Just eat the damn thing, alright?"

"Okay." _And cold again._ "But we can eat together. Might be a nice change of pace. I always eat alone."

"Nah." Daryl waved her off, a little pissed off that she hadn't said yes right away. "Just remembered that I got somewhere to be after I dropped your ass off." _Why do I even fuckin' bother helping that damn girl?_

"Oh. Okay." Bay wasn't able to keep up with his mood swings and now she was almost glad that she would get to slip into her bathtub and eat in peace and quiet very soon.

"Why don't ya find someone to have dinner with if it bothers you?"

"I didn't say that it bothered me. Also, I guess that barely nobody eats dinner at this time."

"We do." Daryl argued with a smirk.

"Yeah,... I guess we do." Bay giggled quietly. _Warm again. What are you doing to me, Daryl?_ "But then again, you're not a suitable dinner partner either-"

"The fuck's that s'pposed ta mean?" he interrupted her angrily, his accent more prominent when he lost his temper. "I'm good 'nuff ta buy yer skinny ass dinner, but I ain't good 'nuff to eat it with ya?"

"Whoa, okay hold on there, Mister!" That's it. She was tired and aching and he was screwing with her head on top of that. Bay had enough. "First of all, it would have been nice if you would have let me finish, because then you would have known that I wasn't saying that. Second of all, did I **ask** you to buy me dinner? Did I ask you to pick me up? Which reminds me. Stop the car, I'm getting out."

"Nah, didn't come ta get ya jus' so you can walk around in the dark again."

"Daryl, stop the car and let me out or I swear to God, I will combat-roll into the street right now. I don't care if I break twenty bones in my body doing it, I just want out."

"No."

"Daryl!" Bay put her hand on the door handle and started pulling, making Daryl slam on the brakes.

"FINE!" he yelled angrily. "You're fucking crazy, girl!"

Bayanne got out of the car and started walking, and Daryl started driving. He didn't drive away though. That would defeat the purpose of him making sure she got home alright. Even though they were almost at her apartment building, he went at a crawl right next to her, steaming mad like a bull. "Really? Ya really couldn't stand being in the car for another two minutes? Bayanne!"

No response from Bay, which made him clench the steering wheel in his hands so hard, it was a miracle it was still intact upon arriving at her building. "Bayanne! Bay!" he tried again and again to get her attention, but she chose not to give in. When she was about to walk into her building without so much as a goodbye, he decided it wasn't gonna happen. He quickly stopped the truck and jumped out, quickly breaking into a run to catch up with her before she had the chance to put the key into the lock. "Hey!"

"What?" Bay whirled around, finally facing and confronting him. "What do you want, Daryl? Really! Tell me, because I can't figure it out!"

"The fuck are you talking about?" he stopped short and looked at her confused, not knowing what she was getting at.

"What am I talking about? I'm talking about your damn mood swings and your inability to decide whether you hate my guts or not. You're nice, you're an ass, you're nice, you're an ass. You tell me you don't like me, and don't get me wrong, that's fine, people don't like everybody all the freaking time, but then you're suddenly nice again and offer me cigarettes and picking me up from work and bringing me food and then you suddenly snap again and can't wait to get away. I mean... what's up with that? Don't think I'm not grateful for the things you've done. I'm grateful for you coming down here to bring me ointment or to take me home and all that, I really am, but I'm not gonna accept it if you throw it in my face and hold it against me the next minute, especially since I didn't ask you to do these things in the first place. I'm done, Daryl. I'm done trying to figure it out, so you tell me what it's gonna be." Bay decided she was not gonna cry about this guy one more night and she was on fire, whereas Daryl was speechless and walking backwards as she advanced on him and almost bumped chests with him during her rant. "I'm done having you screw with my mind every other minute. You have to decide. You can either stand to have me around and be my friend or you hate my guts and you stay away and all we ever say to each other will be polite small talk between cashier and customer. It can't be both Daryl!" By now Daryl's back was against his own truck and she was now poking him in the chest with her index finger with every word. "Pick one and stick to it! Are we clear?!"

_Damn, she's a hot little thing when she's mad. Eyes all ablaze and everything. Should push her more often. She sure ain't afraid of pushin' back. _Although it had been more fun for him to watch her put Patrick in his place, Daryl couldn't help but like that she wasn't afraid to stand up to him as well. As quiet and nice as she might be, she really didn't take shit from anybody. _I like that._ Daryl admitted to himself and had a hard time fighting a smirk.

"Alright." he mumbled with a nod.

"Alright what?"

"I'll pick one." he had the audacity to smirk, which had Bay even more irritated, but she let it rest. She had freaked out enough for the whole week just now.

"Good." Bay took a step back and readjusted the strap of her bag that was slung over her shoulder. She cleared her throat and nodded. "Good. You do that. Thank you for that ride and goodnight."

"Don't want the burger then?"

"Not until you made up your mind." she said while she opened to front door, and with one last look at him she went inside.

"So much for dinner..." Daryl mumbled as he got back into his car. Things hadn't gone how he had imagined it, but he wasn't angry or disappointed about it. He couldn't explain, but he felt like something had burst or had been broken, but in a good way. He was in good spirits, actually after her little outburst. At least he had achieved one part of his mission today; he'd gotten her home safely, even if it might have been a little 'special' during the last couple of minutes. He still chuckled at the image of her being all mad and almost jumping out of the car. She had some well-hidden fire inside of her and that intrigued him.

With the second part of his mission failed, instead of eating with her he went back to the parking lot where some of the guys were hanging out, discussing some ways to make some quick money this week. Some of them were going to 'masturbate professionally' and donate sperm , while Daryl was with the guys who would try to get some work as a handyman. He had a wide range of skills, he was sure if someone would give him and the guys a chance, it would be a good way to make some bucks. If all else failed they'd find a couple of dog owners who would pay them to walk their pets. It wouldn't generate much income, but it would be enough to get some food and drinks going for a night.

* * *

Bay woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare. She was doing okay, but her subconscious hadn't worked through the whole almost-getting-raped-thing, and it let her feel it, by making her confront it in her dreams. The TV was still on and old episodes of MASH were running. It wasn't her favorite, but then again, she wasn't exactly watching anyway. She checked the time and saw that it was just past 2 am. In two hours she'd have to get up and get ready for work. _If I'm awake, might as well go pee._ She crawled out from underneath her blanket and took a trip to the bathroom and grabbed a glass of water on the way back. She felt restless and she was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep. She walked over to the window and opened it to get some fresh air while she drank her water. She noticed a police car stopping across the street, and the officer getting out. He looked around a bit until he seemed to have found what he was looking for. He turned on his flashlight and walked towards an old blue truck.

"Holy shit!" Bay almost choked on her water when she recognized the truck. It was Daryl's. He must be sleeping in front of her building again and someone must have called the cops to check it out. Bay was suddenly running on instinct. To her cops showing up was just never a good thing. She had too much experience with it from her parents' high times. She slammed her feet into her sneakers, grabbed her blanket and wrapped it around her shoulders while she ran downstairs as fast as possible. Once she got out of the building she saw a disheveled Daryl getting out of the backseat to face the cop and she ran right up to his side and slung her free arm around his waist, while the other clutched the blanket, acting like she wasn't even noticing the cop yet.

"Baby, I'm sorry. I was so stupid and I forgive you, okay? It was so dumb anyway, who gets mad over dirty socks laying around the apartment? I was stressed from work, I'm sorry for kicking you out and making you sleep down here. I'm sorry okay?" she rambled out of breath and looked at him imploringly. Daryl was speechless for the second time that night, he was still a bit disoriented from sleep, but he got what she was doing.

"You know this man?" The cop asked her and in an almost Oscar-worthy performance, Bay jumped a little, startled by the voice of the officer who she hadn't paid any attention to.

"What? Oh... I didn't see you there. Is there a problem, officer?"

"I got called down here to check up on a call we received about this car being repeatedly parked here at night and this young man 'staking out' the building... You know him?" the officer asked once more, while Daryl tried hard not to blush a deep shade of crimson, because now Bay knew just how much he'd stayed around.

"Yes. He is my boyfriend... we just moved here and don't know everybody yet. He wasn't staking out anything, we just had a bit of a squabble. Dirty socks and laundry laying around, I'm sure you heard just now... I worked the late shift at the carpet mill this past week and gosh, he always forgets his key, don't you baby? He's so forgetful, so he had to wait outside a couple of times... nothing to write home about officer." Bay smiled as genuinely as possible at the cop while Daryl gingerly placed his arm around her shoulders to help sell the act at least a little.

"And that squabble you had... That turn physical by any chance?"

"God no. He wouldn't hurt a fly, I mean look at him. He looks like an angel and he really is. I was just a bit of a bitch to him. I'm really sorry sweetie." Bay smiled apologetically at Daryl.

"'s alright." Daryl mumbled with that tiny close-lipped smile of his.

"So everything is okay here? That truck belongs parked here?" The officer asked for confirmation one last time.

"It does." Both answered in unison with their most innocent expressions.

"Okay. Try to get along, so this don't happen again."

"Yes, Sir." Bay smiled sweetly and took Daryl's hand in hers. "Come on, sweetie. Let's go upstairs and sleep."

What Daryl had so carefully avoided was suddenly happening; their fingers touched and it felt like they were getting shocked with a live wire. Their fingers interlocked while both their breaths hitched from that intense sensation that had shot through their bodies, and Bay started pulling him into the building, not looking at him while she did it. He was a bit flustered and didn't gather his bearings until they were halfway up the stairs. That's when he tugged on her hand to make her stop and turn around to face him. She was one step ahead of him and a bit taller because of it, having them directly look into each others eyes in close proximity. And there it was, that breathlessness that had befallen him all weekend just from thinking about the last time they had been close and looked at each other like this. But it wasn't just him, she seemed to be a little short on her oxygen supply as well, he noticed. His heart was racing and he got another shock when the image of him closing the gap between them and kissing her flashed in front of his inner eye. _Hell no, you idiot. Don't you go fallin' in love with that damn crazy girl. Shit, fucking Patrick... _But Daryl knew that Patrick was not to blame for anything, except maybe opening his eyes with the constant pushing and teasing. Sometimes ignorance really was bliss, because now he simply didn't know what to do with this little realization.

"What?" Bayanne's soft voice broke through his confusion, making him snap back to reality.

"How'd you know I was there? How'd you know bout the cop?"

"Couldn't sleep. I opened the window to get some fresh air. That's when I saw." Bay murmured under her breath.

"I should get back out there. Go home or something."

"Don't be silly. You can't go home because of Jessa or you wouldn't even be here, right?"

"Right." That was a lie. Jessa wasn't staying over at Patrick's tonight.

"Come on." Bayanne squeezed his hand gently and continued up the stairs. _Why does holding his hand have to feel so damn good? Don't wanna let go. _She shot him a short look over her shoulder and smiled a little. "You'll sleep here, we'll make it work."

Daryl nodded once and kept following her up the stairs. There was only one way to make it work... They'd both be on that sofa-bed, and that thought both excited and scared him.

* * *

"Can I offer you anything? Water? Sandwich? Gummi bears?"

"What's it with you and gummi bears?" Daryl laughed lightly when she locked the door from the inside.

"What do you mean?" Bay had no idea why her offering them was so funny.

"The night that I helped ya out,... you know... you wanted to give me gummi bears to thank me." Daryl smiled and felt bad at the same time, because he now realized how out of it she must have been when he had left her alone.

"Oh." She blushed and giggled a bit. "That's silly. I'm sorry. Since I still have them, I'm guessing you didn't want them?"

"Nah. Don't need them now neither. Had a big dinner, you know?"

"Ah... yes..." Bay figured he'd eaten the burger that had been meant for her, as well. "So,... uummm... I don't think I can go back to sleep, I have to get up in less than two hours anyway, so the couch is all yours. I'll be quiet."

"Nah, if you stay up, I stay up." he was fidgeting, swinging his arms and lightly clapping his hands, not knowing what to do with himself as he looked around until his eyes landed on the TV-set. "We could watch TV I guess."

"Sounds good. I have 'Men in Black' on VHS. Want me to pop that into the VCR?" Bay suggested, because she really wasn't feeling like zapping through all the channels to find something they could watch.

"Yeah, why not."

"Make yourself at home." Bay motioned toward the sofa-bed and retrieved the VHS from a small shelf on the wall.

Daryl toed off his sneakers and knelt on Bay's bed. He lifted the blanket out of the way and scooted towards the back of the couch, so they would both be able to sit comfortably with their legs stretched out. Bay soon joined him and covered their legs with her blanket. Even though she was pretty petite it was a tight fit due to Daryl's shoulders being insanely wide. Their arms touched from shoulder to wrist, even their hand touching a liiiittle bit, but neither made a move to separate by crossing their arms or shifting them to rest more in their laps. Feeling the other's warmth was kind of a nice experience for both of them and they enjoyed it silently for a bit.

"Why can't you sleep? Nightmares?" Daryl asked quietly after a while.

"Yes. Not that bad, but it's definitely still in my head."

"I'm sorry."

"No, it's not your fault. As a matter of fact, if it hadn't been for you those nightmares would have been way worse,... if I would have survived to experience them." Bay shivered as she thought back to that night. She brought her other hand up to rub her arm, rubbing his with the back of her hand in the process, before she rested it back by her side.

"Should have killed 'em. Dirty ass motherfuckers."

"It's good that you didn't. Wouldn't have wanted you to go to jail for helping me. You're a good guy. Thank you." She looked him directly in the eyes when she said it, smiling slightly when she noticed how he blushed and seemed to be uncomfortable with getting praise. _He's so cute._

They fell back into silence, but this time it was a companionable one, instead of an awkward one. Bay didn't even realize that she was falling asleep. One minute she was watching the movie and the next her alarm woke her up. Her pillow felt kind of hard and her neck hurt a little and she soon realized that she was sitting up. She opened her eyes when she felt her pillow shift and looked at Daryl in surprise when he opened his gorgeous blue eyes. "Oh that's right..." she laughed with a bit of a hoarse voice.

"Yeah. Guess we were tired after all." Daryl yawned and rubbed his eyes after Bay had removed her head from his shoulder. She had slumped against him in her sleep and she discreetly checked for drool stains on his t-shirt. She would be mortified if she had salivated on him, but thankfully everything appeared to be dry.

"Looks like." Bay crawled out of bed and stretched her slightly crampy limbs out. Then she picked out some clothes from her closet and disappeared into the bathroom to get ready for work. Daryl scooted to the edge of the sofa-bed and grabbed his sneakers to put them back one. Once they were tied he rubbed his eyes once more and yawned heartily. What a night. A short night, definitely, but also kind of a good night, he realized with a little smile. As short as it might have been, this little sleep over had been nice. _Guess I picked one... _Daryl grinned to himself. _Gonna be her friend._

"Wanna come to the store with me for coffee?" Daryl startled and wiped the grin off of his face when Bay came back in. He hoped she hadn't seen how he'd sat there alone grinning like an idiot. He rubbed his hands over his thighs while he cleared his throat and nodded.

"Yeah. Let's go. Maybe you can scrounge up some gummi bears for breakfast." he snickered lightly while he lead the way out the door.

Bay followed him, shaking her head with a smile while she locked the door. _Why does he have to be so damn cute?_

* * *

**_Thank you for reading!_**

**Snowbird: Dog saliva, yum! I love dogs, but drool is something I just can't stand. I totally understand not wanting to do it again. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if the shyness flew out the window for a bit;-) **

**guest: Well it is a Daryl/Bay story, so we all know sooner or later they are gonna happen. I am very happy that you enjoy the story and that I am able to convey what the characters are feeling. I hope you liked this one as well. Take care:)**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Damn, this coffee tastes like ass." Daryl made a face after taking the first sip.

Bay laughed and poured herself a cup. "It's for free, so you really can't expect all that much. Willie doesn't break out the good stuff for his employees. Granola bar?"

"What, no gummi bears? I'm disappointed." Daryl smirked and plucked one of the bars out of her hand.

"Gummi bears are better suited for dessert. Gotta start your day with at least a little something nutritious."

"Hmm,... maybe I should take some for the guys before they go in and jizz in a cup." Daryl mumbled more to himself, but Bay had heard and almost choked on her coffee.

"I'm sorry... what?" she coughed and cleared her throat while she was laughing. What a random thing to say.

"Some of the guys... they umm,... they wanna donate their swimmers for money this week." Daryl blushed a bit while he gave his explanation with a little embarrassed laugh.

"Guess it's a fun way to make some cash." Bay giggled. "Does it pay well?"

"About forty bucks, I think." Daryl remembered Jason saying something about getting between forty or fifty dollars per wank.

"Oh, I thought it would be more. I got offered twenty-thousand dollars for donating my eggs."

This time it was Daryl who choked on the coffee. "Twenty fucking grand? Shit, girl. Ya gotta be damn rich by now."

"No, I didn't do it. It was tempting, but after they explained how they get those eggs out of me and what I would have to do weeks before in preparation... too many needles and the risks of long-term damage to my reproductive organs were not ones I wanted to take." Bay explained with a frown. She was still sad about the loss of that amount of money, but she'd rather work harder and longer than potentially risk her own health like that for money.

"Prolly smart. That medical testing shit pays well, but what good is that money gonna do ya if ya get sick from that crap?"

"Exactly. I'm trying to find another job right now. The carpet mill is killing me, as much as I hate to admit it." Bay usually wouldn't admit that to anyone, because she wouldn't want anyone to think of her as weak. One would think she especially wouldn't want to reveal this weakness to her maybe-crush, but for some reason she felt safe telling him. "Have to take a bath with Epsom Salts every night when I come back from my shift, but it's not really working anymore. Every time a little more pain stays behind."

"I ain't got no idea how ya do that job. " Daryl shook his head in disbelief. He probably had to see it to believe it.

"I'm stronger than I look."

"Obviously." Daryl scoffed. "Still,... **I **was hurtin' after, so I can imagine how you gotta be feelin'. Yeah, you should quit. Like ya said, your health ain't worth some decent pay." Daryl said before he took another sip of the horrible coffee.

"I know, but the pay is so good for a part-time job. I don't know. I guess I could waitress, but my cleavage isn't... ample... enough to generate good tips." Bay sighed deeply. She imagined she'd have fun being a waitress, more fun than the carpet factory, but it would never pay as well.

Daryl immediately thought back to the image of her naked breasts when she mentioned her cleavage. Yeah, they were small, but they were still tits and they looked damn fine on her small frame. They were nice and round and perky and he was sure they'd fill his palms just right. _'So good...'_ he heard that damn moan again inside his head when he imagined letting his thumbs glide over her soft nipples, feeling them harden underneath his fingers.

"Earth to Daryl... You still with me?" Bay waved her hand in front of his eye, making him jump and snap out of his fantasy. His cheeks turned crimson and he made sure to look at the ground so she wouldn't notice his mortified expression. _Down boy. Thinking bout that shit right in front of her... what's next? Whacking off in front of her?_

"Yeah,... was jus' thinking... maybe ya should try the waitress thing. Or pick up shifts at another store." he suggested absentmindedly. He had the sudden urge to get out of there after that whole fantasy thing, and not just because another 'shower' was in order. He was slightly uncomfortable by what had happened, even though Bay hadn't picked up on anything. "Anyway, gotta go."

"Alright. I gotta get some work done around here." She placed her coffee mug on the small table in the break room and accompanied Daryl out into the store. He headed for the exit, while Bay went to the register. Daryl opened the door, but before he left he stopped and thoughtfully chewed his lip, before he looked at her. "Hey Bay?"

"Yes?" she looked up at him expectantly.

"If I get ya 'nother burger tonight... ya gon' eat it this time?"

Bay bit her lip to fight a smile, but failed miserably. "Depends. You make up your mind about what I told you last night?"

He just looked at her for a couple of seconds before he nodded and gave her his tiny smile. "I'll see ya at ten." Then he left and left them both in good spirits.

* * *

"G'mornin'. When did you sneak in last night? Didn't hear ya." Patrick yawned when he came padding into his small living room where a freshly showered and tired Daryl was dozing lightly.

"Late... or early... whatever ya wanna call it." he grumbled, deciding not to tell the whole truth. If he told Patrick where he'd been, he'd never hear the end of it. Endless teasing and knowing grins would be the result. That he could do without. Thanks, but no thanks. He was confused enough as it is.

"What you been doin' that late?"

"Stuff... ya know... errands. Man, I'm fucking tired." Daryl lamented as he pressed the heels of his hands against his tired eyes.

"I'll make coffee, then we gotta get our lazy asses out there and find work. Ain't got no smokes left." Patrick grunted and scratched his bare chest as he walked towards the small kitchen to get them their caffeine fix.

"I got some... table..." Daryl yawned and pointed towards the coffee table. He wished he would have a couple more hours to sleep, but they needed to eat. Ten minutes later the boys enjoyed a hot coffee and a cigarette, then they got fully dressed and went on their way to make some money. They were in luck, they met a freelance carpenter who needed some help on a new project. He wanted to test them out for a day, but if they turned out to be good workers, he would keep them on for the duration of the project. Patrick and Daryl were a bit hesitant, no longer used to having daily work commitments, but in the end they said yes, because it meant not having to worry about cash for a while. Daryl found himself enjoying the work. He wasn't afraid of hard labor and they got to work outside a lot on this project. He was kind of excited when his 'new boss' told them he'd be happy to take them on. One less problem to worry about. Patrick convinced John, the carpenter, to pay them for the hours they had put in today, so they could buy food before payday at the end of the week. Daryl and Patrick went shopping at the store right after work and brought the groceries home before they met up with the guys in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Daryl soon wished he wouldn't have gone there, because the guys had an 'interesting' topic to talk about.

"Man, that girl looked damn fine today. Asked if she wanted to come tonight and then later go and have a pizza somewhere, but she said she's gotta work. Ain't a total no, though." Josh Hansen grinned. Daryl didn't like him much, he was okay, but he wasn't exactly his friend. He was one of those friends of a friend of a friend, who didn't hang out with them regularly.

"Who are we talking about?" Patrick asked as he hopped up to sit on the truck-bed of Sam's truck.

"That girl Daryl didn't want." Jason replied while everybody was looking at Daryl curiously. They had all seen the chemistry between them on the weekend and how protective Daryl had gotten over her. Nobody had really bought it when Patrick had told them that Daryl wasn't into her at all, but since Daryl wasn't making a move and Bayanne wasn't coming around anymore, they would have to believe it, but it made them curious as hell about Daryl's reaction to what Josh was saying.

"Bayanne?" Patrick frowned. _Awww, no that's not good. _Patrick thought as he felt Daryl stiffen.

"Yeah, Bayanne Moore. Hot little piece of ass. Had my eye on her for a while, today she seemed in a good mood, took a chance... Hey Daryl... you know her a little? Tell me, bro, she got her cherry popped yet?"

The guys collectively held their breaths and all thought the same thing: _Wrong question, dude!_

Josh didn't seem to realize that he was flirting with disaster, he just kept on talking. "The things I'd do to her. Would make her ride me like there's no tomorrow, smack her ass, mark her up nice, mmm mmm mmm. Can't believe you passed up on that, Dixon."

Patrick watched Daryl slowly, almost casually walking up to Josh, and sighed. "Oh man, you just had to poke the friggin' bear..."

"What? He don't want her, so she ain't off limits." Josh said and watched Daryl's approach warily.

Daryl took a drag from his cigarette, before he let it fall on the ground. He gave Josh the evil eye and kept advancing until his chest bumped into the other man's, at the same time exhaling a puff of nicotine-filled smoke right in Josh's face. He kept bumping his chest into the other guy's, making him walk backwards until his back was up against one of the cars.

"Come on, man!" Josh held his hands up, trying to show Daryl that he didn't want a fight, but it was way too late for that. "Come on, you ain't her boyfriend. You didn't call dibs or nothing, right?" he laughed nervously, the icy stare he was getting from Daryl was more than just a little unnerving.

"She ain't fucking property." Daryl said in a dangerously low voice. "I saved her from fucking pigs like you before 'nd I ain't got no problem doin' it again."

"Pig? Gimme a break, dude. Like you ain't thought 'bout doin' shit to her. Sweet and innocent little bitch like her, nailing her while she's wearing that big ass cross 'round her neck..."

"Ya have a thing for having shit 'round your neck? Why didn't ya say that sooner?" Daryl snarled and wrapped his hand around Josh's neck, squeezing hard, making the other man's face go red as he tried to pry off Daryl's hand.

"What are you, her keeper? Calm down, I was just kiddin' around." he gasped and sputtered, trying to diffuse the situation.

"No, ya weren't. You're right though, I ain't her keeper,... I'm her friend and I make sure my friends are safe from little punk-ass pussies like you. Here's how it's gonna work from now on. Ya don't go into that store no more when she's working. You don't speak to her no more, you don't even look in her fucking direction no more. Ya got that? And don't bother showing your fucking face around here no more." Daryl got in Josh's face, their noses almost touching. It was uncomfortable to watch, but the guys thought Daryl was right to do it. No matter what Patrick had told them and no matter how much Daryl denied liking Bay, somehow it had quickly become the unspoken law that Bay belonged to Daryl. Even if they weren't ever gonna be a thing, she was under his protection. This little display certainly sealed that deal and made that fact crystal clear to everybody who was around watching the scene unfold.

"Fine, dude. Whatever, just back the hell of, man." Josh looked away when Daryl stared him down for a moment longer and bumped into him one last time for good measure. He breathed a little sigh of relief when Daryl finally did back off and released him, before he turned around to go back to where he had stood next to Patrick. "Stupid flat-chested piece of virgin pussy ain't worth the trouble." Josh muttered under his breath as he turned to walk toward his car, but he had underestimated Daryl's superb hearing. Daryl had hunted with his family ever since he'd been able to hold a rifle and his senses were finely tuned instruments. Nothing went by him, especially not some cowardly muttered insults about the one girl he liked spending time with.

He struck faster than a snake. He grabbed Josh's shoulder and whirled him around and before Josh realized what was happening, Daryl let his fist fly. It connected with Josh's nose and Daryl felt the bone give way with a satisfying crunch. He grabbed at Josh's throat and yanked him back up, not caring that the other man's blood dripped on his forearm as he slammed his back against the car once more. "That's one..." Daryl growled, referring to the now broken nose. "I catch ya 'round here or 'round Bayanne ever again, I'll break every single one of the remaining 205 bones in your body. One by one. I don't own her, but that girl is still **mine**, ya hear? _Mine to protect. Mine to take care of._

Josh nodded and quickly scrambled to get away from the seething man. Daryl watched him until the car was out of sight, only then did he walk back to Pat to get a beer and have a smoke. "Jackass." Daryl spat and shook his head in disgust.

"You showed him. He's gotta be suicidal if he ever goes near your girl again." Pat said as he handed Daryl an old rag to wipe the blood off his arm. Daryl's head snapped up at the 'your girl' remark and he was about to go into another tirade, but Patrick cut him off before he could start. "Relax, don't mean it like that. It's good she's got someone to watch out for her. Looks like she could use it."

Daryl just nodded and hopped up on the truck bed. He kept to himself for the rest of the evening, trying to relax and let go of his anger before he would go to pick up Bayanne.

Patrick watched him brood a bit. He tried to believe that Daryl didn't have a crush on Bay, but the evidence that Daryl was into her was sheer overwhelming. _Why's he so fucking afraid of telling me the truth? Already told him that nobody would give him shit for liking her. Hell, they'd all be damn happy for him. Can't ask him 'bout it. If I do he goes ballistic. Damn boy, just wanna help ya, but you won't let me._

After a couple of hours Daryl suddenly jumped off the truck bed and walked toward his truck without a word. "Hey! D? Where you goin'?"

"Making sure the damn prick stays away from Bayanne." Daryl replied without looking back at his best friend.

"Gonna make sure she gets home okay?"

"Yeah." Daryl muttered while he got into his truck, then he drove off towards the burger joint.

"Alright..." Patrick grinned. "Guess it's a start. Maybe he don't need help."

"Not into her, my ass!" Sam snorted with a laugh.

"I know, right?" Jason snickered. "Trust me, I'd put the beat-down on anyone who'd hurt a woman and I'd put the beat-down on anyone who talked like that about **my** woman, but I wouldn't do it if some guy I knew just **talked** about wanting to get it on with a girl I ain't interested in. He was fucking jealous."

"Yeah, he's been trying to kill me by shooting daggers at me ever since I hugged the girl." Tommy laughed. "She's **mine, **he tells Josh, but as soon as Pat calls her 'his girl' he looks at him like he's about to break his nose, too? He's fucking weird."

"He ain't." Sam disagreed. "I think he's in so fucking deep that he can't see the forest for the fucking trees."

"What are you saying?" Patrick looked at him with a frown. "You saying that we all know he's head over heel for her, but he don't know it himself?"

"Yep, that's what I'm saying. Erin and I talked bout it Saturday night. Come on guys, it's obvious that he likes her, but it's Daryl. He ain't ever had a girlfriend. Maybe he don't know why he does what he does. He don't know that it's 'cause of having feelings for her."

"You sayin' that he don't know that he's in love or something?" Patrick was highly doubting that theory. How can someone not know or realize that they're in love? "Come on, man. That's ridiculous."

"Is it?" Sam quirked his eyebrow at Pat. "I admit that Erin came up with that theory, but it kinda makes sense. He's only been with some girls at parties, but he never had a steady girl. Maybe Erin is right and he never had a crush before and he don't understand what's happening. That's why he gets mad the whole fucking time you mention anything 'bout it to him."

"Hm..." Patrick grunted. Yeah, he had to admit that it kind of did make sense and he was a little bummed that he hadn't figured it out by himself. He was Daryl's oldest friend and he knew pretty much everything about him. He knew how Daryl had grown up, he had been in front of the Dixon's house and had watched it burn down to the ground while Daryl had come sprinting down the street, because he'd been the only one not to own a bike. Sam had been there as well, but Patrick had always been the closest to Daryl, he should have known. Daryl had grown up in a loveless home. Year after year he had gone without getting birthday or Christmas presents, day by day he'd plucked lit cigarettes out of his mothers fingers so she wouldn't burn herself. While other kids had gone on a fun camping trips, Daryl had had to learn how to hunt and survive out in the woods. Camping? Yes. Fun? No. _Shit, man... the guy don't know what love is or how it fucking feels._ That thought was deeply saddening and Patrick now wished even more that both, Daryl and Bay, would come to their senses and see what was right in front of them. "Okay... guess it might be right." Patrick admitted and sighed. "What do we do about it?"

"Nothing. You know what happens when ya say something. Can't nobody help that boy, but him. He's gotta figure it out on his own. We gotta stay out of it or it ain't never gonna happen." Sam shrugged and recited what Erin had told him.

"Yeah." Patrick wasn't satisfied with that solution, but there was nothing else to do. "Guess that's true."

* * *

Bay was once again very aware of how much faster her heart started beating and how those pesky butterflies were bustling about in her belly when she saw Daryl waiting for her outside the factory. She knew she was screwed, it happened every time she saw him and she knew there was no fighting it. The crush had won, it was in full bloom. The only thing left to do was not to be obvious about it and start acting like a thirteen year old school girl around him. She tried to force the huge grin, that was about to break out on her lips, into a medium-sized smile and kept clutching the strap of her bag so she wouldn't start waving at him like an idiot. She was relieved when she made it into the truck without making a fool of herself. _Thank God!_

"Thank God for what?" Daryl frowned and couldn't help but be amused when he noticed her startled expression.

_Oh crap, did I say that out loud? _"Umm, thank God my shift is over. Don't have to be back here until Thursday." she said quickly, but blushed nonetheless. _I'm an idiot._

"How was it?"

"Same old, same old." she replied while she put the seat-belt on and Daryl pulled into traffic.

"And this mornin'? At the store? How was that?" he tried to keep his voice neutral, but thinking about Josh asking her out till made him angry.

"Good. The usual, I guess."

"Got the afternoon off tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Doin' anything?" he still wasn't able to get Josh out of his mind. He'd asked her to have pizza with him and even though he knew that Bay had declined due to having to work, Daryl still wondered if she would take him up on the offer another time."

"I am." Bay said with a smile, but didn't offer up any more info.

Daryl clenched the poor steering wheel with impatience and started to get agitated. "Yeah? Like what?"

"Erin called me at the store earlier today. She's coming over to hang out. I'm so excited you can't even imagine." Bay was beaming, she was really happy about Erin getting in touch with her and she couldn't wait for tomorrow.

Daryl released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. No date. Just girl time. Good. "Sounds good. Gonna be fun for ya, huh?" he was able to give her a little smile, happy for her that she got someone to hang out with.

"I'm sure it will be." She smiled, before something else caught her attention. It was dark, but in the light of the street lanterns they were passing, it looked like Daryl's hand was slightly discolored. "Daryl? Did you hurt your hand?"

He looked down at the hand in question and cleared his throat. "Yeah."

"What happened?" Bay asked and Daryl pondered whether to lie or to tell her the truth. He wasn't big on lying and he knew if the truth would come out, that it wouldn't earn him any favors, so he decided to stick to the truth.

"Ya know Josh Hansen?"

"Ugh... yeah." Bay rolled her eyes. Daryl laughed a little, making her look at him in surprise. "What?"

"Don't like him?"

"No, can't say that I do." Bay laughed along with Daryl.

_Best fucking words I heard all day._ Daryl thought and it gave him hope that she wouldn't be mad for what he'd done. "Good. Don't go near that guy, alright?"

"I won't, but why? What happened?" Bay asked, although she had a pretty good idea how Daryl had bruised his knuckles. "Were you in a fight with him?"

"Yeah. Said some nasty things 'bout you. Just wanted in your pants." Daryl looked at her carefully and bit the inside of his cheek. He was nervous that she would be mad at him for beating up another guy.

"I figured from the way he was leering at me. Made me really uncomfortable. Wait, he said nasty

things about me and you beat him up for it?" Bay didn't know what to think about that. She usually didn't condone violence, but that Daryl would defend her honor like that made her want to kiss him and smile proudly at him. Something deep inside her belly clenched for a moment and made her shudder slightly. It puzzled her because she wasn't able to place that sensation and she rubbed her arm when she broke out into goosebumps right after. _What was that? I'm not running a fever, am I? Dear God, please let me not get sick. Can't afford it right now. I don't feel sick, though... Weird._

"He had it comin'. Told him not to come near you again, so if he ever shows up again, ya gotta tell me, alright?"

"You're not gonna beat him up again, are you?"

"Promised him I would if he wouldn't listen." he looked over at her when he stopped at a red light. He hated when he wasn't able to read her right and right now he wasn't able to tell if she was annoyed with him. "I fucked up, huh?"

"No,... I mean... I'm not a fan of violence, I don't think it's necessary, but I know men are wired differently in that area and that you just had my best interests at heart, which is really sweet, so I can't be mad at you." Bay replied and sighed quietly. She didn't want him to get into fights for her, she wasn't worth it, and she had no intention to go near him anyway.

"But? You are anyway?"

"No, I'm not. I'm not mad, but if I promise you that I would never ever go out with him anyway, can you promise me not to get violent with him? Please?"

"You sure you don't like him?" Daryl scowled at her. _Why the fuck is she so worried 'bout his damn safety?_

"I don't, Daryl, but I don't want you to get yourself in trouble because of me. Don't get me wrong, I am very flattered that you stood up for me and defended me, but please don't risk getting arrested or something. I'm not worth that trouble. You already did so much... Please." Bay was begging him, her big, beautiful eyes looking at him pleadingly.

_Wait a minute. She ain't worried 'bout him. She's worried 'bout me? _The realization felt almost unreal and he barely dared believing it. _Can't be right. _Even though he was unsure if that was what she had meant, he couldn't help but smile a little. "Yeah, alright. If that's what ya want." he sounded almost chipper as he smiled at her, causing Bay's big smile to come back.

"Good." she giggled quietly.

Daryl parked the car in front of her building a couple of minutes later and reached back to get the bags with the burgers and fries from the backseat. "Here. Still warm."

"Thanks. You wanna come up and eat there?" she offered as she accepted the bag.

"Can we stay here?" Daryl felt like his truck was kind of his home turf and he liked having her in here.

"Sure, no problem." Bay assured him with a smile and got her burger out of it's wrapping paper. "Oh God, sooo goooood." she moaned after her first bite. Daryl's traitorous dick twitched happily inside his boxer shorts and Daryl grit his teeth for a moment to get a grip on himself. Yet another thing to add to his private shower time fantasies.

"Ya like it?" he smiled, happy that he'd supplied her with something good.

"It's amazing! Thank you so much. I could die a happy woman right now." Bay was slumped into her seat in total bliss while he ate and Daryl enjoyed her happiness immensely.

"Let's hope it don't come to that just yet." he mumbled around his own mouthful of burger. "Say, ya got a freezer?"

"Yeah. Not a whole separate one, but this little compartment at the top of the fridge. Why?" she asked bewildered.

"Just askin'." he shrugged. "So ya headin' straight ta bed after this?"

"Bathtub first. Gotta soak my back and arms for a while, then it's off to bed."

"Right."

"Where are you gonna sleep tonight?" she asked, fully prepared to offer him a place on her sofa for the night.

"Patrick's. Jessa ain't there tonight." he knew he could have lied, but it didn't feel right.

"Okay... Hey ummm... before you ever go to sleep in your truck again... you can stop by and sleep on my couch. We made it work the last time..." Bay offered timidly. It felt weird to offer up half her bed to a man (and a man he found attractive on top of that), but they'd done it before and it had actually been really nice.

"Can't always sleep sittin' up." Daryl smirked and was very pleased about her offer, although he wasn't sure if he would have the balls to just march up there and ask if he could stay the night.

"I guess we could lay down." Bay giggled. "We'd probably have more space too, because I tend to sleep on my side."

Daryl didn't know what to reply, so he just gave her his tiny smile and that was enough for her.

"Well... I really gotta go or tomorrow morning is going to be hell." Bay enjoyed sitting there and talking to Daryl, but her alarm would go off at 4 am and it was already ten-thirty pm. As much as she loved spending time with him in his truck, she also needed her sleep.

"Alright." Daryl muttered, sad to see her go already, but he understood.

"Thank you so much for everything, Daryl. You're really sweet." Before either of them realized what she was doing, Bay had leaned over and softly put her right hand on his cheek and pressed a gentle kiss against his other cheek. Suddenly she was startled by her own action and quickly pulled back. She was mortified when she saw Daryl's shocked expression. Both blushed a deep, dark red and Bay almost stumbled over her own two feet in her haste to get out of the situation quickly. "Bye." she mumbled and then she was gone, dashing into the building at lightning speed.

_What did I do, dear God, what did I do? He didn't want that. Why did I do that? Oh God, now he sure thinks I'm a lovesick little girl. Kissing his cheek just like that. Who does that? Oh God... _Bay admonished herself over and over and over while she unlocked her apartment door and let herself in.

Daryl, meanwhile, wore a mask of confusion and he felt weirdly lightheaded. He didn't know what to think, all that seemed to come up was _That really jus' happen? _He slowly brought his bruised hand up to touch the spot where her lips had touched him and chewed his bottom lip nervously. _Yeah it did. Shit, that damn crazy girl..._ It had felt nice. Confusing, but nice. Now his stomach was doing those weird things again and he once again admitted to himself that Pat might have been right all along. It scared the hell out of him. He hid his face behind his hands, rubbing his skin hard as he felt a bit overwhelmed. _The hell am I s'pposed to do?_

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Thanks for supporting this story by reviewing, following and favoriting!**

**Snowbird: Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews. Merle will be in the story, but it might be another couple of chapters until he shows up. He is a vital element, but that's all I can say right now:) Right now we will spend our time getting these two people together and have them enjoy their first love:) Thanks for all the well-wishes, right now my son and I are healthy and well, only mama i very tired, lol. **

**guest: I am so happy that I have a little after-work treat for you by writing this. It's nice to see that you enjoyed the last chapter. I loved writing the scene with the cop and Bay's little outburst. I think it was about time that she shook him awake a little, albeit unknowingly. I hope you enjoyed this one as well:)**

**Guest (2): Yes, everything inside of me was screaming at me to let him kiss her, but it was too soon:) Thank you for your review.**

**Kara: Thank you, it was my favorite scene to write. Thank you for your review, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

"How much, do you think, will I have to make you drink in order to trick you into some juicy girl talk?" Erin grinned and waved around the wine bottle she had brought over.

"It's been a while since I've had wine, so smelling the open bottle might be all it takes." Bay joked before she tossed a handful of M&amp;M's into her mouth. The girls were curled up on her couch and enjoyed some chocolate and sweets Bay had been able to get from work.

"Let's test that theory. Please tell me you have a corkscrew."

"I do. Hold on." Bay got up and fetched the corkscrew and two clean glasses from her kitchen. "There you go."

"Okay, let's get this bitch open." Erin worked on removing the cork while Bay shook her head with a smile.

"This is nice. Maybe we can do that more often."

"We definitely should. You really should keep hanging out with us, Bay. Patrick and Jessa didn't mean anything bad by what they did."

"I know, but still, she's different." Bay shrugged and held out her glass for Erin to fill it up with wine.

"Her parents' divorce is killing her. You know how close that family used to be. It's good that she has Patrick, he's a good guy. Yeah, a bit overly helpful at times, but you gotta give them another chance. All of them are really nice and they like you. Reconsider? For me? Pleeeeaaasseee?" Erin made an exaggerated pouty face, earning a giggle from her friend.

"Yeah alright, I'll think about it." Bay promised.

"That's what I wanted to hear. Now before you take a sip, here, smell." Erin held the open bottle in her direction and Bay sniffed it.

"Ugh, you ever notice how bad wine smells?" Bay made a face and shuddered.

"Not really, but hey, you're still sober. Now, drink girl. Drink and then let's talk Daryl." Erin smirked, when she noticed Bay's cheeks taking on some color. "Oh yeah, I just know there's something to talk about there."

"You're right, I probably need to be drunk for this." Bay sighed, then she took a couple of big gulps from her glass.

"Oh my God, Bay. Go easy on that." Erin warned with a laugh. "Come on, it's me. We used to tell each other everything. So, what's going on? You like him, don't you?"

"I do. I don't want to, but unfortunately I do. I tried to fight it, but I have butterflies, my heart races and then stops, only to race again, I get nervous... the whole freaking deal." Bay explained unhappily.

"Whoa, what's that face all about? Why don't you want to like him? He's a nice guy." Erin was surprised by how sullen Bayanne seemed to be.

"I know that he is a nice guy. That's not making it any easier. He is so sweet and I think about him all the time, but he doesn't like me, he made that abundantly clear. He wants to be friends and that's it, and that's exactly why I don't want to have a crush on him, because I'll act stupid and he won't wanna be friends anymore after a while."

Erin had heard through Sam what Daryl had told Bay about not liking her, so she knew what her friend was talking about. However, Erin didn't think that Daryl had told the truth. "Guys say a lot of stupid stuff they don't mean. Don't worry about that. Having a crush on someone can be nice. And if you hang out with us, you can enjoy having him around and talk to him and enjoy all those butterflies and heart racing-things and you can actually get to be friends. Maybe he will start liking you, too, when he spends more time with you, but you gotta put yourself out there first. Seek him out, show him a liiittle bit that you'd be interested. If you don't show up at the parking lot when you have time, when else are you gonna see him otherwise, except for when he comes in to buy something?"

"I see him plenty." Bay replied and gulped down the rest of her first glass of wine. She already felt a bit dizzy and her tongue felt a bit heavy and she knew that she couldn't have any more. "He picked me up from work the last two days,... brought me food, so I'd eat meat and he slept here Monday night." her slightly intoxicated state kept her from considering that maybe Daryl wouldn't want her to tell anyone about that.

Erin looked at Bay with wide eyes and she slowly brought her hands up to cover her mouth so she wouldn't start squealing. This was definitely news, and because it was new to her it meant that Sam hadn't known about that and that she would have some nice little piece of gossip to share with her boyfriend later. "He slept here? Where exactly did he sleep?"

"Here." Bay patted the couch.

"And where did you sleep?"

"Here." Bay slurred the word slightly as she petted the couch again. She really had lost her tolerance for alcohol. Wine had always given her a quick buzz, so it was no surprise that she already felt a bit drunk after one glass with the long absence she'd had.

"But you guys didn't... do anything? Make out? Or grope each other? Had sex?" Erin was barely able to contain herself. She so had been right. Daryl was totally into her, but probably just didn't realize it yet.

"God, no! Erin! No. I told you, he doesn't like me that way. We just slept."

"So you are still a virgin?"

"Yep. Very much so."

"Can you imagine having sex with Daryl?" Erin grinned and started giggling when Bay blushed so hard it looked like her head was about to explode.

"No! Stop. Why does everything have to be about sex? I only thought about kissing him. And then I did it. I kissed him."

"WHAT?" Erin almost spit out her wine.

"On the cheek. Last night. He hated it and I got out of his car as fast as my feet were able to carry me." Bay quickly added, unknowingly disappointing her friend a little.

"Oh Lord, Bay... Did he tell you he hated it?"

"No. He just looked at me... like this..." Bay tried imitating the way Daryl had gaped at her. "Then I got out of there, before he was able to say anything. It happened so fast, I didn't even know it was happening. He was so sweet, picking me up, defending my honor and bringing me a burger... I just wanted to say thank you. And then his damn skin had to feel so soft..." Bay muttered and hugged her knees to her chest.

"Maybe he was just surprised. I don't think he hated it." Erin smiled reassuringly and watched her friend pluck at the fringe of her woolen blanket, which her grandmother had made for her a long time ago. "Oh girl, you're in deep aren't you?"

"I really don't want to be, but it just gets worse every time I see him. No sense in fighting it, but I don't want any heartache. I don't want to fall in love. Love destroys people. Just look at Jessa and her parents... look at my family's track record."

"Bayanne Moore, you did not just say that! Stop that way of thinking right now. If anything you should prove that theory wrong. Love can be a really good thing. It would be good for you, look how you've been living the past year. You want to keep living like this forever? You have to start living again, you're eighteen and not eighty, Bay. I know you have this goal you want to achieve and I admire how hard you work to make it happen, but don't forget everything around you in the process. This thing with Daryl, even if it never leads to anything but friendship, don't fight it, let yourself feel. Enjoy having him around, be happy, let things evolve however they may and see where it leads you. And even if he never returns those feelings, yes it might hurt, but at least you will be feeling something, you will live life and not just get up and go to work like a robot. If you keep doing that you will end up unhappy, like your parents, and you know what happened to them. I don't wanna be rude or cruel here, but I worry about you. I love you and I want you around and I want you to be happy. I think Daryl could make you happy, whether as a friend or as a boyfriend, it doesn't matter, just let him in and don't fight it. He beat up another guy, because he said crude things about you, he obviously cares in some way. Don't tell him I said it, but I think he might be a bit lonely, too. You two might be good for each other."

"Erin, I told you, he said-"

"That he doesn't like you like that, yes I got that. So what? A friendship can sometimes be better than a relationship. You can never have too many friends. Like I said, don't find excuses, just let something good happen to you for once. Don't be afraid, B. He would be a good friend to you, he already is if he watches out for you like that."

"True. You've always been wise beyond your years, Erin. Gotta listen to you, huh?" Bay smiled at her friend. Erin had always had such a good head on her shoulders and she had always had very good insights and opinions and therefore, gave good advice. Bay loved that about her. Basically Erin had said some stuff that Jessa had said to her as well, but Erin hadn't been as pushy or rude. With her, Bay always knew that it came from a good place.

"You better." Erin winked and took a sip from her barely touched wine.

"Were you there? When he beat up Josh Hansen?"

"No. Sam told me last night." _Also told me that Daryl told Josh that you were his. _Erin kept that part to herself though. She wanted to encourage Bay to get closer to Daryl, but she wouldn't meddle directly and tell her that everybody thought Daryl was falling for her. Daryl was a bit unpredictable, there was a chance that he really would be so in denial that he and Bay would never get together and she didn't want Bay to get intentionally hurt by getting her hopes up only to have Daryl smash them. That's why she had emphasized the friendship part of the whole thing. Daryl was a great friend, she was sure that at least that part would work out between them.

"His hand was bruised... must have gotten Josh really good..." Bay muttered absently.

"Yeah, they said something about a broken nose."

"Oh boy... " Bay sighed deeply. It calmed her though, that Daryl had promised her not to kick Josh's ass again, in case the boy was stupid enough to show up again. "You said not to be afraid... but I am afraid. I don't wanna act like an idiot around him, but I seem to be doing that every time. Like kissing his cheek... "

"That'll pass, Bay. It's just new right now, it'll get better."

"I'm also afraid of how he makes me feel... if that even had anything to do with him... I don't know."

"What do you mean? What happened?"

"No, forget it. It was probably nothing." Bay waved her off and grabbed another handful of M&amp;M's.

"Nope, out with it. What did you feel?" Erin looked at Bay expectantly.

"When he and I talked about that whole thing... suddenly I felt so weird. There was this pull or something, like really low in my belly and I felt feverish for a second and then I had goosebumps... freaked me out. Never had that before. Have you ever felt something like that? I thought I might be getting sick, so not even sure that Daryl caused it." Bay was blushing again. She wasn't able to place that feeling, but deep down her subconscious knew that it was something embarrassing.

Erin pressed her lips together in an effort not to laugh. In this department Bay had always been very different from Jessa and herself. Bay had never been very interested in boys and therefore she had never been very interested in sex and she had never liked talking about it. She had tried out kissing with two boys and had liked it, but she hadn't liked the boys enough to do it more often with them or go any further than that. Erin also remembered another thing Bay had never been interested in and she had a hard time believing that nothing had changed in that department since they had last talked about it.

"Bay? You still haven't done it, have you?"

"Have I still not done what?"

"You've never masturbated."

"Oh God Erin!" Bay squealed with wide eyes before she hid her beet red face behind her hands.

"Jesus, Bay. Really, how do you not do it? How do you go through your teenage years without playing with yourself at least once? Aren't you curious at all what it's like? What an orgasm is like?"

"Oh God, stop. I'm dying from embarrassment over here." Bay mumbled from behind her hands.

"Drink more wine and get over it. We are so talking about this and you wanna know why? That feeling you described? You were aroused. Daryl, or what he did, turned you on, girl."

"Oh God! Oh God!" Bay moaned embarrassed. "If you tell anyone I will hurt you!" Bay was completely mortified.

"Stop being dramatic, it's a natural reaction. You're a very, very late bloomer. Tell me, you really never even been aroused before?"

"No. I don't think so. I definitely never felt that thing from last night before."

"Amazing. Not even once? We all watched our first porn together... you really never thought about doing that with a guy?"

"No. I never spent any time thinking about it. I had enough to worry about with my parents falling apart bit by bit and when I spent time with Grams, well, we didn't exactly go around talking about sex. I never had the urge to 'explore myself'."

"Hm... Okay, I admit before Sam and I got together, I never really got hardcore aroused either. I was horny sometimes and curious and that's when I would take care of it. Bay look at me." Erin gently pulled Bay's hands away from her still red face. "I know you feel uncomfortable talking about it, but I wanna give you some advice. Just listen, yeah?" Bay nodded, so Erin continued. "Of course it is totally okay if you don't wanna do it. I guess you do have other things on your mind, but consider this. One day you will have a boyfriend and one day you will be intimate with him. How is he supposed to make you feel good, if you don't even know what you like? If you don't even know what it is supposed to feel like? Sure, he can explore and try out, but it might be nice if you'd be able to guide him a little. Sam for example, he asked me to show him what I liked. What if your future boyfriend would ask you that?"

"I don't know... I always thought it's kind of his job to figure it out..." Bay said sheepishly.

"Oh Bay no! No. No. No, no, no, no. That's not how it works. Actually, a lot of guys that are our age or Sam's age, they are not all that experienced either. I guess we all kind of learn together with each other and gotta help each other out a little. It might not hurt if you knew how to give yourself an orgasm."

"Wouldn't even know where to start..." Bay sighed deeply.

"Next time you take a bath, just let your hands roam a little, see what feels good." Erin suggested, making Bay cover her face again.

"Oh GOD... I'm not drunk enough for this. That's so embarrassing." Bay lamented. "Don't tell, Sam. If he tells Daryl I'm just gonna die."

"I'm not gonna tell Sam, what kind of friend do you think I am? Come on, Bay. Nut up, as the guys like to say. You are eighteen years old, you gotta learn to talk about it, especially to your girlfriends." Erin poked her ribs with a laugh before she scooted closer to Bay's side.

"I hope you know that I dislike you very strongly right now." Bay joked and narrowed her eyes at Erin with a little smile. Actually, she was glad that she had her friend to talk to, even if it was a bit uncomfortable.

"I know, I get it. I'd probably feel the same if the roles were reversed. But while you already 'dislike' me, why don' we try a little experiment?"

"Oh good God, what now?"

"Close your eyes. Come on, do it." Erin coaxed and gently put her hand over Bay's eyes to get her to close them. "Good. Now imagine Daryl's hand on your neck and his thumb rubbing back and forth along your jaw."

"I don't like where this is going." Bay muttered. To be honest, she was scared of feeling turned on, it was a new concept to her and it was a bit overwhelming.

"Sshh, relax sweetie. Focus on Daryl. His face is coming closer and his nose is rubbing along your own. You feel his warm breath on your lips and then a second later he kisses you." Erin described in a low and gentle voice. Bay definitely felt her heart rate pick up again and she actually felt nervous, like the kiss was really happening. Her whole body was all aflutter and she clenched and unclenched her hands, because they felt all tingly. "And now you feel his lips parting and his tongue prodding at your mouth. You let him in and then his tongue is touching yours and-"

"Stop!" Bay's eyes snapped open and she took a deep breath as she shuddered. Erin's experiment had worked, she had felt that pull,.. that arousal... again, while imagining a real kiss with Daryl. Bay rubbed away the goosebumps on her arms, which Erin noticed with great satisfaction.

"It happened again, didn't it?"

"Yeah." Bay admitted with reddened cheeks. "Is it weird that it scares me?"

"I don't think it's weird. It's very new to you, feeling like that. Are you really scared? Or is it more like you feel overwhelmed or nervous?"

"I'm not sure, maybe a bit of everything? I never fantasized, … I didn't know it could cause intense things like just now. It's a bit freaky, but I'm sure I'll get used to it. Probably bound to happen more often if I keep hanging with Daryl, right?" Bay looked at Erin for confirmation, before she rested her head against the other girl's shoulder.

"It might, yeah. Don't be scared of it, Bay. Everything's going to be fine." Erin put her arm around Bay and rested her head on top of Bay's. "You're so cute."

"Stop." Bay giggled. "I feel like I'm some kind of weirdo, because I only start feeling those sexual things now."

"Some people just need more time. Like you said, things at home weren't good, you were always worried about something. Just take some time to think about it when you have a minute to yourself. Can't hurt. And whenever something is on your mind, you can talk to me, alright?"

"I love you. I'm so happy you're here."

"Same here. Love ya too, B."

* * *

By the time Sam picked her up, Erin had convinced Bay to come with them and hang out for an hour or two. Bay was extremely nervous about it, not because of the guys or Jessa, but because of Daryl. After kissing his cheek and downright fleeing from the truck, she didn't know what to expect or how to act around him.

"Hey Bayanne. Nice to see you. How are ya?" Sam greeted her with a smile before he placed a quick kiss on Erin's lips once the girls had climbed into his car.

"I'm good, thanks. How about you?"

"Couldn't be better." Sam replied smilingly, then he turned around to face the road again. Bay looked out the window while they drove, trying to keep her cool, but at the thought of seeing Daryl again she felt very jittery and the damn butterflies in her stomach made her dizzy. When they pulled up to the parking lot and she saw his truck she felt like blacking out. _Don't make a fool of yourself, please God, make sure that I don't make a fool of myself._

"Just act like nothing happened." Erin whispered to her when they got out of the car.

_Easier said than done._ Bay took a deep breath and tried to keep her face relaxed and not let her eye dart nervously towards Daryl as they joined the group.

Daryl shot up straight when he noticed Bay accompanying Erin and Sam. All of a sudden his palms were sweaty and he rubbed them on his jeans-covered thighs. _She's here... what do I do?_ Just like Bay he was nervous and had no idea how to act after that little kiss she had placed on his cheek. He hadn't been able to stop thinking about it, the moment kept creeping back into his mind over and over again, exciting him, but also scaring the living daylights out of him, due to that funny feeling in his belly getting stronger when he remembered how her lips had touched his skin. It had been innocent enough, it sure hadn't meant anything to her, but to him, it meant something. He wasn't sure what, but something that made him secretly crave more of that innocent physical contact, just like that time he'd had the urge to hold her hand.

"Bay!" Patrick called out to her and Daryl quickly averted his eyes when she looked in their direction. Pat straightened and walked over to Bay and gently guided her away from the group a few feet. "Listen, I just wanted to apologize for last time. I didn't mean anything bad by it." he apologized sincerely, but he had to fight a smirk, because he noticed Daryl watching them like a hawk with narrowed eyes.

"I accept your apology. I get it, you thought you would be doing something nice for your friend, but please don't do it again."

"I won't. Learned my lesson. How you feelin' with everything? The cut healing now?" He asked and looked down at her chest, but the cut was covered up by her sweater.

"Yes, it's doing fine. Thank you for asking."

"No thanks needed. So we good?"

"Yes. All good." Bay smiled and followed him back to the group. She was still jittery, she was able to feel Daryl's eyes on her and it didn't help with her nervousness. She quickly went back to stand next to Sam, who had Erin wrapped in his strong embrace. Bay hated being the fifth wheel and she didn't want to impose on the couple's couple-time, but she didn't know where else to stand and she sure as hell didn't dare to walk up to Daryl and stand next to him.

"What you two talk about?" Daryl scowled at Pat when he was back.

"Just apologized for the other day, like I said I would. No reason to break my nose." Pat grinned, earning an elbow to the ribs from Daryl.

"Funny." he murmured humorlessly. He was a bit puzzled by Bay ignoring him completely. _**She**__kissed __**me**__, but now she can't even stand ta look at me? The fuck's up with that? She mad bout Jackass Hansen after all? Maybe she don't even know I'm here... Why the fuck do I even care if she looks at me or not? Fuck. Don't need all this boy-girl shit in ma life._

A couple of minutes later Jessa showed up. She didn't acknowledge Bay, but that was fine by her. She didn't feel much like talking to her either. Jessa instead acknowledged her boyfriend Patrick very much, much to Daryl's disgust. When they started making out heavily without a care in the world, Daryl made a face and walked off towards his truck. He went to the passenger side and opened the door to get a new pack of cigarettes out of the glove compartment. There was a slight breeze and he suddenly caught whiff of a scent that was becoming familiar, even before he heard her light footsteps approaching. _Ah look at that,... she does know I'm here. Just don't wanna be seen with me. Figures, _he thought bitterly.

"Hi..." Bay smiled. When she had noticed him walk off, she had finally gathered the courage to go up to him. Act like nothing happened, right? Under normal circumstances she wouldn't have ignored him, so she had followed Erin's advice to 'nut up'.

"Hey." he responded not overly enthusiastic.

_Good job on ruining your friendship on Day 1, Bay. _"H-how... umm,... how are you?" she suddenly felt intimidated and insecure again, like they had taken five steps backward.

"Hm." he grunted with a shrug. "You?" he asked and finally looked at her for a short second.

"Good. I'm good. I had fun with Erin... Although the wine we had is giving me a bit of a headache." Bay laughed a little, but when he didn't crack a smile she quickly shut up.

"Shouldn't drink then." he said sharply and Bay's heart sank. He definitely seemed in no mood to talk to her. She couldn't blame him. She had overstepped some boundaries by kissing him like that, even if it had only been his cheek. You don't invade someone's personal space like that. Erin had told her to act like nothing happened, but that wasn't working. She felt like she should apologize and he seemed like he was expecting her to say she was sorry for that little faux-pas.

"Daryl, I know you're mad at me and I get it. I'm sorry for what I did last night. Shouldn't have attacked you like that. Me of all people should know better."

Daryl's head whipped up and he looked at her in surprise. _She thinks I'm mad about her kissin' on me? Naw girl, try again. _Daryl bit his bottom lip while he looked at her for a moment, then he shook his head slightly. "Ain't mad about that."

"Oh..." Bay was at a loss for a moment before she remembered that she had straight up ignored him out of her own insecurities, but then again, he hadn't looked at her either. Still, she made a second attempt at an apology. "I'm sorry for not saying 'hi' sooner..."

"Why didn't ya?" he looked at her curiously. "Don't wanna be seen talkin' ta me?"

"Why wouldn't I wanna be seen talking to you? No, that's not it. Honestly... I was scared... of facing you after what I did... I know I crossed a line and I'm sorry." she admitted with a blush and her honesty made Daryl's mood lighten again. It also felt good knowing that she had been just as nervous about the two of them meeting again, as he had been. Of course he wasn't quite as ready to admit his own nervousness.

"Already told ya,... ain't mad 'bout it." _Shit, she's cute when she's all red in the face._ "Just don't appreciate ma friends treatin' me like air, ya know?" he couldn't help the little smile that formed on his lips. "Trust me, if I had been mad, the whole neighborhood woulda known last night."

"Oh.. good. Good to know." Bay was relieved that he was smiling at her again and that he seemed to have forgiven her for ignoring him and she made a mental note to never do it again, no matter how insecure she was.

"You and Erin had fun, yeah?" Daryl asked after a short awkward pause.

"Yes. It was nice. Felt good, just like back in the day." Bay smiled, but blushed once again when she remembered their sex talk.

Daryl narrowed his eyes at her in amusement and studied her for a moment. "What ya blushin' for?"

"Uuummm... nothing. Probably the wine." Bay said quickly, even more embarrassed now.

"Yeah... right." Daryl smirked. He knew she was lying, but that was alright. He was just teasing her, he knew she would never fess up about why she was getting red in the face. Since most of the other guys had steady girlfriends who hung out with them, Daryl had heard a thing or two about girl talk and that girls talked about sex stuff just as much as the guys did. He was sure that something along those lines had happened today. He thought it was pretty endearing that she blushed because of it. _Endearing... What's that damn girl doin' ta me?_

"How was your day?" Bay quickly changed to topic and tried to push thoughts about kissing Daryl and arousal and masturbation out of her mind. She felt like Daryl was able to read her thoughts judging by that smirk on his face and that would not be good at all.

"Okay... worked and then I came here."

"Cool..." Bay nodded. _Why is this so awkward again? Wasn't like that last night or the night before..._

Daryl was thinking the same thing and he didn't like things being weird between them again. The past two days they had been able to talk to each other like normal people do, she had even shouted at him a little, telling him to make up his mind about what he wanted. Hell, he'd even slept on her couch right next to her and even after that it hadn't been weird. Maybe they should be alone? Maybe the presence of his and her friends had them both a little insecure? _Only one way to find out._

"Need a ride home?" he offered and Bay jumped at the chance to get out of there.

"Yes, please!"

"Alright. Hop in." he stepped aside and let her get in before he shut the door for her. Less than a minute later they were on the road and both felt calmer already.

"I'm really sorry I was so weird earlier." Bay had the urge to apologize again, but Daryl waved her off.

"Don't worry about it. Got painkillers at home?"

"Yeah. Why?" Bay questioned with a puzzled frown.

"For the headache."

"Oh, right... yeah."

"Josh show up today?"

"No. I'm sure you put the fear of God in him." Bay giggled quietly.

"Good. Working at the carpet mill again tomorrow?"

"Yes. Tomorrow and Friday." she sighed deeply. With each shift she was looking even less forward to going there. Daryl nodded his acknowledgment and made a mental note to always pick her up four times a week until she had another job. No way he would ever let her wander around in the dark, no matter how close the damn factory was.

"So..." Bay cleared her throat. "Jessa and Patrick looked to be getting pretty busy back there."

Daryl started chewing his lip, knowing where she was going with this. Jessa was definitely staying over that night, leaving Daryl to sleep in his backseat again... or at Bay's... but he found that he was unable to muster up the courage to ask. "Yeah... gon' screw each others brains out..."

Bay nodded and fell silent for the remainder of the drive, but as soon as they stopped in front of her building she smiled. "Grab your pillow, I only have one." Then she got out of the truck without another word and without looking at him, not giving him a chance to argue. Daryl was glad she wasn't looking, because he was grinning like a fool while he eagerly grabbed his pillow from the backseat, before he removed the key from the ignition and got out to follow her inside after locking his car.

On their way up he remembered something and he sent a quick prayer to whatever was out there. _Don't let me get any fucking morning wood._

* * *

"You know the drill. Make yourself at home." Bay smiled before she bend over to untie her Converse Sneakers, giving Daryl an eyeful of her firm ass.

"Right..." he mumbled absently and tossed the pillow on the sofa-bed without taking his eyes off of Bay's behind. He only averted his gaze when she straightened to toe off the sneakers, and smiled innocently when she looked at him over her shoulder.

"Want some water?"

"Sure." he shrugged. Bay got out a bottle of water and two glasses and poured them some. She got out her last pack of Japanese Style Stir-Fry Noodles, she had gotten for free, and popped the tray in the microwave.

"I'll be right back." She smiled and went into the bathroom, where she changed into her tank-top she liked to sleep in, and some shorts. Exactly four minutes later she came back out, just in time for the microwave to beep and announce that their food was ready. Daryl swallowed hard, he'd repressed the memory of her sleeping in that tiny outfit and without wearing a bra. Sometimes he felt like a perv, but he couldn't help it, the image of her naked breasts came back to his mind every single chance it got. The 'joys' of being young and male: constant state of being horny, having all kinds of sexual fantasies in their heads throughout the day and getting erections at inconvenient times. Thank God his dick was behaving for now.

"It's supposed to be with shrimp, but I can't guarantee that there's actual shrimp in there." Bay said after grabbing two forks, as she walked over to the sofa with their noodles. She was light enough to stand up on the sofa-bed without it even creaking, and she took two steps towards the back until she was in front of the right armrest. She carefully sat down and put her own pillow between her back and the armrest, after she had put the small tray with the noodles down. Daryl handed her their glasses, then he knelt on the sofa and scooted up to the left armrest to mirror her position. He spread his legs and bent his knees, while she sat cross-legged, with their food and drinks between them. He picked up his fork and dug into the noodles, making a face when he had them in his mouth.

"That is some godawful shit." he chuckled, but he kept eating anyway.

"I know, it's not that good, but it was for free." she laughed. "Funny... it's supposed to be with shrimp, but it tastes exactly like the cheddar cheese flavored ones. No real shrimp I'm guessing."

"Probably not real cheese neither in that other one." Daryl scoffed lightly before he gulped down some water. His theory had proven right. Now that they were alone, they were right back to where they had left off on Tuesday morning. This was comfortable and nice and he felt much more at ease and apparently so did she.

"There's gotta be a reason why you can get a shitload of that stuff for free, right?" Bay laughed, making Daryl smile and shake his head.

"Yeah, apparently."

"Erin said you and Patrick found good work? With a carpenter?" Bay tried to keep up the conversation, it would help mask her nervousness, because that was still very much present, especially when she thought about sharing close quarters with him for the night.

"Yeah, something steady for once. For a couple of weeks at last. Gon' be nice not havin' ta worry for a while." he explained around a mouthful of noodles.

"How is the job? Do you like what you're doing there?"

"Ain't bad. I like bein' outside and right now we're painting this one house outside. I don't mind the work... Like working with my hands. I think I'm good with that kind of stuff."

"If you like it, do you think you wanna try and find steady work in that field? A real job?"

"Dunno." Daryl shrugged. "Kinda used ta bein' my own boss for the most part, you know? Would be weird having to go there at the same time each day, be off at the same time each day... do the same work... "

"That's kind of how the whole job thing works, Daryl." Bay giggled and scrunched up her nose, which had Daryl wanting to kiss it. And so another couple of chips of concrete went missing from his walls. That tiny hammer was working overtime these days, all because of 'that damn Bayanne girl'. She was worming her way in, slowly but steadily and Daryl was just starting to realize, that there was no fighting it. He had fought with all he had, but it had been a lost cause from the very beginning. After all, he had gone to that store every single fucking day for almost a year, without really realizing why. He'd secretly looked at her, studied her when she had been busy with the register, hell he'd done it since the first time they'd been introduced and she had sent him a dazzling smile. He had scowled at her, because he had been scared and weirded out by that happy feeling her smile had evoked. Ever since then he had pushed those feelings down and he had kept them locked up tight, but it hadn't stopped him from seeking her out every chance he got, to catch a glimpse of her, maybe exchange a word or two. Mostly it had only been 'hello' and 'bye', but that had been enough. Not anymore, though. He found himself needing a bit more time with her every day. It was like a little craving. He was in a weird state right now. He wanted to be here, in her apartment or in his truck, and spend time with her and talk to her, maybe do more than just talk at some point, but then again, he was scared to death and he wanted to throw it all away and run as fast as he could and as far away as possible and go back to his life pre-saving Bay from rapists. God knew his life had been easier before. No being confused as fuck about a girl, no thoughts of wanting to hold her hand or wanting to kiss her and wrap her up in his arms. No lack of oxygen from the memory of how she had looked at him that one night and how the air had been charged with something he wasn't able to name, making all the little hairs on his arms stand at attention. No jealousy, no funny stomach things, no nothing. Just living and surviving.

Daryl was aware of what might be happening to him, but he wasn't ready to succumb to it just yet, if at all. The sexual fantasies he'd had about her, those didn't scare him. That was normal to him. The innocent stuff was, what scared him. The urge to link hands, have her close, kiss her... the way he had felt after that cheek kiss, that scared him. He felt that he was lacking the tools to deal with those kind of emotions and that they would overwhelm him and control him and eventually destroy him if he would give up on his denial. That's what scared him so much and that's why he still wasn't able to just fully admit and acknowledge what Bay was causing inside of him. He just didn't know if he would ever be able to. And what for if she didn't return the feelings? She wanted a friend and in the end, it might be all he would be able to give anyway. _Why she gotta be so damn sweet 'n cute?_ Even as he was thinking about this inner turmoil which he was going through, the urge to kiss her welled up inside of him again, and he let his mind go there for a moment. He remembered what it had felt like to have her bare arms pressed against his, how the warmth of her skin had warmed him up and somehow calmed him. What would it be like to let his hands slide over that skin while he kissed her? He wanted to find out, but then again, he didn't. That shock that had run through him when she had taken his hand in hers...it had made him breathless and wide-eyed, staring at her in the staircase, almost about to kiss her, like some pretty-boy-hero from a trashy romance novel. Scary... it was all fucking scary... _And damn fucking exciting at the same time._

That he had to think about it all so much, frustrated him. _Ain't getting me nowhere. It's like a damn rocking chair. Movin', but not going nowhere. Shit man, just dunno what to do._

"You are doing it again." Bay's voice cut through his thoughts. "You zoned out again."

"Sorry. Tired..." he mumbled an apology before he drank the rest of his water.

"That's okay. I'm tired, too. Wanna lay down?"

"Sounds good."

"I'll bring this to the kitchen real quick." she smiled and gathered their used forks and glasses, as well as the empty tray the noddles had been in. While she did that, Daryl went to the bathroom to take a piss. He didn't have a toothbrush, so he washed his hands and squirted some toothpaste on his index fingers and rubbed it over his teeth a little. It would have to do. Usually he wouldn't have bothered, but he didn't want Bay to have to sleep with any shrimp-noodles-breath getting exhaled close to her face.

"You uumm... you can take your jeans off... if you want. No sense in being uncomfortable." Bay murmured shyly, when Daryl came back to the couch. She was scared that he would think that she **wanted **him to do it, but she was just offering so he would be able to sleep better.

"Yeah umm..." Daryl cleared his throat and chewed on his lip. "Ain't a bad idea..." _It's a bad idea, but I'm doin' it anyway. Hate sleepin' in pants._

When his hands went to his belt, Bay quickly averted her gaze and turned on the TV, but out of the corner of her eye she spied some white and blue plaid boxers, before he climbed into bed. "Is it okay if we leave the TV on? I don't do so good with sleeping in the dark." she admitted and hoped he wouldn't laugh at her for it. Daryl, who was fluffing his pillow just gave her his tiny smile.

"Don't mind. Sometimes I like it better like that, too." he said and put Bay at ease.

"Great. Thanks." She grabbed the remotes and put them on the floor on her side of the sofa-bed, then she slid underneath the blanket. Her bare legs touched and slid along his as she got comfortable, causing both of their breaths to hitch as electric shock ran through their bodies, making every nerve ending flutter and tingle with excitement.

"Sorry." she was almost squeaking, but Daryl wasn't upset. Not at all.

"Don't worry. Bound to happen. Close quarters... Gonna happen more often, I reckon."

"You're right." she nodded and watched him squirming a little until he was comfortably on his back, one arm up by his head, the other hand resting on his flat belly. They were silent for a while and Bay took in the view of Daryl relaxing in her bed. She felt slightly guilty for eying him like she was, but she still thought that it was a view she would like getting used to. Her eyes soon were glued to his lips and those little moles close to his upper lip and his nose. She had never really called anything 'sexy', but she guessed if looking at them brought up fantasies of him kissing her, and caused a mini-version of that aroused feeling inside of her, then that probably meant that she thought of them as sexy. He was very, very good-looking and he was even more gorgeous when he smiled, although she was coming to prefer that little tiny smile, where he just tugged up the corners of his mouth.

"I was thinking." Daryl spoke up after a while. "Do you know how to shoot?"

"Shoot? Like a gun?"

"Yeah,... can ya?"

"No, but I always wanted to learn." she loved action movies and she had always been fascinated by guns and had wanted to learn how to shoot, but the opportunity had never been there to make that dream come true.

"I'll teach ya. Gonna take ya out of town to one of 'em fields, set up some targets and then you're gonna learn." he said and turned his head to look at her. Startling a little on the inside about how close they were. It wasn't an unpleasant shock, though. He loved looking at her eyes up-close.

"That sounds good. Thank you." she smiled genuinely happy. Then they laid there in silence, but looking at each other. Their eyes locked and the air between them changed, just like that one time in the car. They both felt it, but neither of them knew that the other one was feeling it, too. Daryl moved his legs a little, 'accidentally' rubbing against hers again for a second. Bay's heart hammered in her chest and she had a hard time breathing. She felt yet another new sensation, but this time it was like something was blooming inside of her, paired with a need to be closer to him. She wished she would be able to snuggle her head into his chest, but how would that look? She felt the need to be held in his arms, but she knew it would never happen. It filled her with sadness, but she pushed it away. She was lucky, she shouldn't be sad. Her crush was sleeping right next to her, in her bed. How many girls could say that? Daryl shifted again, but this time so did Bay, and she timidly let her smooth leg brush against his.

Daryl swallowed hard and fought the urge to take her hand, once more. "We should sleep..." he whispered hoarsely with his gaze still locked with hers.

"Yeah. Gotta be up early." Bay agreed, but neither of them made any move to turn around or close their eyes. The only thing that moved was Bay's arm and seemingly of its own volition. Some hair had fallen into his eyes a couple of minutes ago. Daryl didn't seem to mind, but Bay wanted to admire the full glory of his eyes for another moment before it was time to sleep. She carefully brushed the hair out of his eyes and up towards his temple, while she kept looking him in the eyes. When she moved her arm back down, she let her fingertips skim his forearm in a short, but gentle caress. "Good night, Daryl." she smiled, her belly all fluttery from touching him, before she turned her back on him.

"Night..." Daryl mumbled, elated at her touch, but a little disappointed that she hadn't given him another kiss. _Maybe next time._

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**I proof-read, but the two days/nights have been rough, so sorry for any tipos or mistakes.**

**Snowbird: I'm so glad the scenes came across the way I intended them, too. That kiss at the end was supposed to be innocent and sweet, I'm glad I was able to achieve that. I had goosebumps writing that, lol, so I understand getting teary eyed. Thank you so much for the support. Much love to you and I hope you are well.**

**Guest: I agree, Daryl took an important step. He can no longer deny what's happening completely. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and Bay's interactions with Erin and Daryl:) Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. Take care:)**


	9. Chapter 9

Bay woke up because she felt like she was laying in a sauna. Her blanket was suffocating and dehydrating her. That's what it felt like anyway, although she was sure that her blanket hadn't developed a mind of its own and was trying to kill her.

_Or maybe it did!_ Bay's eyes snapped open, when her 'blanket' made a quiet grunting noise and wrapped itself around her tighter. She panicked for a split-second, before she remembered, that Daryl was with her and apparently, he was playing blanket in his sleep. _The least he can do after he hogged mine. _Bay stifled a giggle and relaxed. A look at the clock told her that she still had 15 minutes before she would have to get up and get ready for work. Now that she knew that she wasn't in grave danger of being suffocated by a real blanket, she relaxed and took a moment to analyze how their positions had changed during the course of the night.

Her head was no longer on her pillow, but just underneath. She was on her left side, but she was halfway rolled onto her stomach. Her left leg was straight, but her right leg was bend and her knee pulled up towards her stomach. She felt Daryl being curled around her, with him lying almost on top of her. His head was now on her pillow, her head being cradled between his chin and the column of his throat. Her tank top had ridden up and his bare arm was slung around her, now, equally bare midriff, and his right leg was wedged between hers, all in all, mirroring her position almost exactly while being pressed flush against her. Yep, no reason to be sad about him not liking her back at all, if she got to wake up like this, right? She hadn't smiled this big upon waking up in ages, if ever. She wriggled her pelvis a little, because her hips were cramping, and adjusted her position slightly. It resulted in another grunt from a sleeping Daryl and in him shifting slightly as well. Like they weren't touching enough already, he pressed his groin even more snugly against her ass and pressed his nose and mouth into her fragrant hair.

"Mmmmmm." he released a hoarse satisfied sound before his breathing evened out again. Bay, meanwhile, froze and held her breath. She felt something very solid press against her buttocks through the thin layers of fabric that was separating them. _No, that's not his... No. Or is it? What else could it be? He's only wearing his underwear and he sure doesn't keep his gun there, right? Oh my God,... it is his... thingy..._Her breath caught and she felt that pull deep inside of her again, mixed with a hint of panic. This was the closest she had ever been to a penis, not to mention an honest-to-God erection. _It feels so big... oh good Lord...that's kinda scary. Must be that morning erection thing. He wouldn't get this because of me. _Bay was sure of that and weirdly enough, that thought calmed her panic about the whole thing.

They were getting closer to the alarm clock going off, but Bay didn't want him to wake up from that. He would surely be embarrassed about waking up with an erection firmly pressed against her. She reached over and slid the alarm button to the 'off'-position, then she carefully took hold of his hand that was resting on the bed by her stomach and lifted it a little, so she could slowly slide out from under him. Unfortunately that plan didn't quite work, because her left leg was trapped between both of his legs. Looked like there was no way to spare him the embarrassment, he would have to wake him up while they were still entangled like this.

"Daryl." she murmured quietly and gently tickled his forearm with her fingertips. "Daryl, I have to get up."

She felt his chest rumble against her back, shortly before grumbling and grunting noise were emitted from his mouth. "Gotta pee?" he asked groggily, clearly not quite aware of what was going on.

"No." Bay giggled, and Daryl, in his sleep-addled mind, thought it was a nice sound to wake up to. He smiled against the top of her head and hugged her closer, still thinking that he was dreaming, until she spoke up again and started moving against him. "Well yes, but I also have to get ready for work. It's after four am already."

Daryl blinked his eyes open and he very quickly became aware of what he had done to her in their sleep. He also became aware that his prayers had gone unanswered and that his quite impressive morning wood was happily pressed up against her ass and with every little move she made, lust and pleasant head radiated from his groin throughout his entire body. _Goddamn, fuck... Ain't no way she don't feel that. I could cut glass with that thing! _Daryl's cheeks started burning from embarrassment and he quickly got off of her and rolled on his back. _Damn near crushed her, too. Oh man... but she ain't sayin' nothing... Maybe she didn't mind none. _

"There's some granola bars in the cupboard next to the fridge. You can grab some if you're hungry. I'm afraid I don't have anything else to offer." Bay said while she got out of bed and walked to the bathroom, trying to make him as comfortable as possible in this situation. If it was her, she would be mortified and she was sure so was Daryl right now. Hell, she was mortified about having gotten aroused at feeling that thing, even though Daryl didn't know that.

"Alright." he nodded, even though she wasn't able to see it in the dim light of dawn, as she hadn't turned on the lights, which he was very thankful for. _She seems alright with everythin'. Still fucking embarrassing, man, but she gotta know this happens to dudes and that it don't mean nothing, right? Yeah, she seemed okay with it. Wasn't slapping me or yelling at me and no gloatin' or nothing neither. Maybe she liked it... Nah, stop! Don't even fucking go there, dumbass. _Daryl took a deep breath and calmed down a little. If she wasn't gonna mention anything, neither would he. This would be one of those things that just got swept under the rug. No big deal. It happened and the world was still turning. He had slept amazingly well and if she would offer him to sleep at her place again, he would definitely take her up on it again. He yawned and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, then he sat up and decided to focus on breakfast. He got up, got dressed and turned on the lights on his way to the kitchen. _Granola bars. Hm. Better than nothing I guess. But sweetheart, we really gotta work on your damn eating habits. Ain't no person out there who can live off of this crap and be healthy. Can't afford no doctor, now can ya?_ He already had something in mind, but he'd have to make a few phone calls first to see if he'd be able to pull it off in the foreseeable future. He looked around and noticed that she didn't have a phone. _Right, ain't one of 'em necessities, huh? _He admired her drive and her hard work, but he thought she was not prioritizing right. She said that she wasn't doing the egg-donating thing because it might put her health in jeopardy, but she was still doing that by working that damn job that was tough even for a strong guy like himself, and on top of that she wasn't eating all that much and nothing that was giving her a whole lot of energy. If she kept it up for another year she might just drop dead one day.

While he was deep in thought and slowly munching a less than tasty granola bar, Bay came out of the bathroom dressed in blue jeans and a tight black tank top. Her hair was up in a messy bun, displaying the elegant curve of her neck. _I might have a thing for necks..._ He thought as he imagined himself biting the back of hers, before moving to the side and latching on to that sweet spot right underneath her ear, where he would suck a big, dark mark into her skin that would last for at least a week. That would show that damn Josh Hansen... A bit of hot pink was peeking out from underneath her top. Daryl usually wasn't a fan of bright, flashy colors, or pink for that matter, but in combination with the dark top and her tanned skin it looked damn enticing. He felt his cock give an excited jump in his pants and he quickly stuffed the rest of the granola bar into his mouth. "Bafwoom" he mumbled with his mouth full and downright fled into the bathroom to relieve himself and get rid of his boner. Bay stifled her giggle until the door was closed. Poor guy, they really didn't have it easy with everyone being able to tell when they are aroused. _Although if I remember correctly, these morning things aren't because that. Are they? I should brush up on my sex ed. Maybe the library has a book I could read? For the masturbation thing, too maybe? Or maybe I should go to that Internet Café and search for tips online? Gotta do something._

* * *

"I'm sorry you had to get up so early... again." Bay apologized a little while later when they were sipping shitty coffee in the break-room of the store. "You do so much for me, but I can never really give anything back."

"Ain't true, Bayanne." Daryl shook his head vigorously, "I slept on your couch didn't I? Ya fed me last night and this morning. I'd say we're pretty even."

"Maybe next time,... I don't know... maybe next time you can stay in bed and keep sleeping a couple more hours. Hm, but I don't like having my door unlocked all day."

"In this neighborhood? Yeah,... shouldn't take any chances." he agreed. "Don't worry 'bout me not sleeping long enough. It's fine. Wouldn't do it if it would bother me. Told ya already, didn't I? Don't do nothing I don't wanna do."

"Right." she nodded and sipped on her coffee. "What did you think? My couch more comfortable than the backseat of your car?"

"Yeah, and definitely warmer." He laughed a little before he cleared his throat and carefully peeked up at her from underneath his fringe. "Was it okay for you? 'm sorry I crushed ya."

"You didn't, it was fine. Slept like a baby. Hold on, I really did, actually. No nightmares." Bay frowned, only now realizing that she had slept through the night for the first time since the men had attacked her. "Cool. I guess you are kind of my own personal dreamcatcher." she beamed happily at him, making Daryl smile shyly.

"Should stay over more often, huh?"

"Every night for all I care. I don't mind..." she smiled and nervously rubbed her hands over her denim-clad thighs. "and not just because you get rid of the nightmares..." she added nervously before she drank the rest of her coffee.

"That so?" Daryl smirked a little and enjoyed seeing her blush and fumble with her mug. "I'll keep it in mind." when Bay flicked her gaze up at him he winked at her, making her giggle. She bit her lip and pushed a strand of hair, that had escaped from her bun, behind her ear, while she looked at him shyly. Daryl groaned inwardly as images of holding her tight and nibbling that lip flashed through his mind. Seemed like he'd have to get used to that happening, because he didn't feel like stopping spending time with her. He shook himself out of it and got up. "Tonight at ten?"

"Yep, as usual." Bay nodded and before he could push past her, she gently grasped his hand, making him freeze and his breath hitch as the touch sent another shock through his system. "Daryl? I know what you said, but I just wanna say it once... You don't have to pick me up every night. I appreciate it very very much, but I don't want you to feel like you have to, because of what happened."

"Got it off your chest?" he asked, and when she said 'yes', he nodded. "Good. Then forget about it. Ain't doin' it cause I think I hafta. Last time I said it, too, Bay."

"Okay. Thank you." she smiled and ever so gently squeezed his hand and softly rubbed her thumb over the back of it. "I'll see you tonight."

He didn't pull away, he looked at her and waited for another cheek kiss, without acttually realizing that he was waiting (hoping) for it. He waited for a moment, but when she didn't move he tore his hand out of her grasp impatiently. "See ya." he grumbled slightly and left, leaving Bay a bit confused about his sudden change in mood.

* * *

That day turned out shitty for Daryl. After leaving the store he went back to Pat's to take a shower and make some calls before they were off to work. Daryl had planned to take Bay out for shooting practice Saturday morning, but his new boss had asked them to work Saturday, because they needed to get the flooring finished in the house they were working on. Daryl couldn't say no, because the guy promised a little extra pay and he could always use the money. It threw a wrench in his plans, though and he spent the first hour after work making new calls to shift everything around, but one thing was for sure: Target practice with Bay would have to wait at least another week. What else had him miffed? It wasn't pay day yet, so he wasn't able to get her something to eat that night. He knew that it wasn't his responsibility to keep her fed, she was perfectly able to do that herself, but he liked giving her something she wouldn't get for herself. It was fun and somehow sexy to see her be so happy because of something as simple as a greasy burger with soggy fries. Tonight they would both have to do without that simple pleasure.

"Ain't got nothing to eat tonight..." he murmured apologetically, when they were parked in front of her building that night.

"You wanna come inside with me and have some cheddar cheese noodles without real cheese?" she grinned, thinking he had meant that he was hungry and didn't have anything to eat.

"No, I mean for you! Didn't get nothing for you tonight."

"OOOHH! That's what you meant. Sorry. " she laughed. She was in an exceptionally good mood due to her nightmare-less night. She wasn't as tired as she had been since it had happened. "Don't worry about it, Daryl. I do have food, you know? You shouldn't spend your hard earned bucks on me, seriously and you never have to apologize for not bringing me anything."

"Wasn't apologizin'."

"It sounded like an apology." Bay grinned.

"Ya didn't even get what I was saying the first time." he smirked at her in amusement.

"I meant in retrospect."

"Did ya now?" he narrowed his eyes at her, making her giggle even more. "So you gon' be good?"

"Yes, of course. Don't worry about it." she winked and gladly accepted a cigarette instead of food.

Daryl left shortly after because his Uncle had yet to get back to him and since Bay didn't have a phone, he had to go back to Patrick's and wait for the call there.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Daryl sighed as he entered the apartment. The question was redundant, because it was very obvious what Patrick was doing.

"Continuing my sexual education." Pat grinned and took another hit from his blunt. "Come on, sit down and relax. It's good stuff... movie's good, too." he offered the joint to Daryl.

"Ain't got money for food, but ya got money for this?" Daryl mumbled, but took the joint anyway and sprawled out on the couch, while Patrick just shrugged and kept his eyes glued to the images of the porno he'd borrowed from Jason. He waited until Daryl had taken a couple of hits, before he spoke up again.

"How's Bay?" Silence. Patrick looked over at Daryl, who was eying him with an unreadable expression. "Come on, man. Ya leave every night at the same time and ya ain't here some nights when Jessa ain't here neither."

"We're just friends."

"I know. Wasn't saying anything..." Patrick backed off when he realized Daryl wasn't relaxed enough to talk yet, so he focused back on the activities on screen. Of course Sam had told Pat about the little sleepover Daryl had with Bay and now Pat just wanted to pick Daryl's brain a little. Just a little bit longer, then Daryl would be ready, until then, the movie was great entertainment. "Yeah, man. Now ya got her goin'... That's the spot." Patrick chuckled when he watched the male performer tongue his female partner's clitoris. Daryl couldn't help but watch as well and he had to admit that Pat had been right, it was good stuff, both, the weed and the movie. The girl was petite and not too fake looking. And she was brunette with long slightly wavy hair,... like Bay. It was easy for Daryl to picture Bay squeezing her tits as she squirmed and moaned beneath him. "Damn man, wish I would have seen this movie years ago. Searched for that clit-thing like an idiot for way too long. Mother Nature hid it well..." Patrick giggled slightly.

"You really are an idiot." Daryl laughed quietly, finally relaxing after the stupid day he'd had.

"Yeah right, like you found it right away!" Patrick tossed his empty pack of cigarettes at Daryl, but missed his target.

"Never looked for it, but come on, everybody knows it's right at the top of their damn slits, man." Daryl took another hit and slowly released the smoke, and Patrick knew Daryl had reached his more talkative phase.

"Yeah, we know that **now**, but a couple years ago?"

"Already knew then... Merle 'nd my Dad weren't shy 'bout their porn. Told ya that before." Daryl got exposed to pornographic material at a pretty young age and it caused his sexuality to awaken a bit sooner than it should have, meaning that he'd been curious about sex very early on and he'd soaked up every bit of information he got like a sponge. That didn't mean that he was a promiscuous man-whore who slept with every girl that gave him the time of day (actually he wouldn't even need a whole hand to count off his sexual encounters so far), but it had contributed to him developing a very active imagination where sex was concerned.

"So the girls you banged... Hannah Davidson and Sarah Harris... you didn't even try to make 'em cum?"

"Weren't no girlfriends of mine, were they? Was just blowin' off some steam. Didn't really care." Yeah, he wasn't overly proud of it, but the girls just wanted a quick fuck so they could brag to their girlfriends about having had some one-night-stand in the bedroom of the kid's parents that was throwing the party. He was fine with that, he knew he'd never have to talk to them again, because both girls had run in completely different circles and one of them had left for college anyway. He'd been very fine with getting some release without any emotional attachment whatsoever, that's what Merle had taught him to do, and at the time he had thought he was doing the right thing. His attitude about that had changed with meeting Bay though, whether he had realized it or not. Ever since they had been introduced at that party, he'd never shown any interest in other girls anymore and he'd found himself thinking differently about sex. He also hadn't had sex with anyone other than himself since that party two years ago. However, he hadn't realized yet, that this was because of Bayanne.

"But if ya had a girlfriend, you would look for it and try to make her cum good?"

"If I wanted ta keep her around,... guess so. But like I said, wouldn't hafta look for it. Already know where it is. If I hadn't I'd definitely know now." he motioned towards the TV and the clear shot of the woman's privates."

"Jus' look at that little missy over there. She's in fucking heaven. Feels damn good if ya can get your girl to buck and squirm like that. If they cum on your cock... Goddamn, it's the best, man."

"Guess so." Daryl shrugged, not having experienced that for himself, but the thought sure sparked some new fantasies.

"She looks like Bay, don't she?"

"Yeah. So what?" Daryl narrowed his eyes at his friend, not liking that Pat was thinking about Bay while watching porn. "Ain't you got a girlfriend to perv out over?"

"Relax... was just thinking, man. Jess said that Bay's a virgin."

Somehow Daryl had figured that she was, still, hearing it confirmed brought on several emotions inside of him, but he ignored them for now. "Kinda shitty of your girl to go around tellin' people that."

"She just told me, as far as I know. Just came up one night..." Patrick shrugged. "I told you 'bout Jessa bein' a virgin when we got together and ya didn't bitch about me telling you then, did ya?"

"Why ya keep bringing up Bay? Ya got a point?"

"No, man. Just chattin'... Reminiscing." Pat chuckled. "Kinda awesome to be your girl's first. Scary as hell when you're 'bout to do it though."

"Told me that five time at least, man. You sound like a fucking broken record." Daryl lamented. He didn't like where this was going, mostly because it made him think more and more about Bay. Like he wasn't fantasizing about her enough. _Fuck, man. Now I can't stop thinking bout bein' her damn first. Like that's ever gon' happen. _The thought of being the first and maybe only man to ever be inside of her, deeply satisfied something inside of him. He didn't know what it was, if it was some primal urge or the cave man inside of him that liked that idea. One thing he did know for sure, though; if he would ever end up having a girlfriend, they would have a shit-load of things to try out.

"You ever think about her? In this way? I know she's your friend now or something, but that don't mean she's off limits in your head, right?" Patrick was curious if Daryl would fess up under the influence of weed.

"None of your damn business." Daryl said, but there was humor in his voice and to Patrick that was answer enough. The phone rang a minute later and ended the conversation. Patrick was a bit miffed that he hadn't gotten anything juicy out of Daryl, but it didn't come as a big surprise. Daryl liked to play things close to the vest.

* * *

Friday night at ten pm Daryl waited in front of the factory once again. He was already racking his brain, trying to come up how to approach her about staying the night again. Jessa was at Patrick's, but also, Daryl would be busy the whole weekend and be out of town after work until Sunday night, so there was no chance to see her. He hated the feeling that overcame him when he thought about not seeing her for two whole days. Was this what it felt like to miss someone? If so, then he hated it with a passion. It felt like a weird mix of sadness, longing and impatience, maybe even more feelings he wasn't able to identify. _Fuck, and I ain't even gone yet. _He had gotten so used to talking to her every day, it would be weird not to even see her in the store real quick. Well, it wasn't two whole days... not if he'd be able to find some balls on the way to her apartment. He was planning on seeing her Sunday night when he got back, maybe she would invite him to stay the night then, but tonight, he might just have to ask.

Finally Bay emerged out of the gate. Daryl took one look at her and frowned. Something was off. He squinted in the darkness and studied her closely as she approached. She was incredibly pale, that was the first thing he noticed. When she got even closer he noticed her expression. It was strained and she was pressing her lips together hard. He grew restless and he leaned over the passenger seat and opened the door for her, his eyes never once leaving her. "What's wrong?" he asked instead of an 'hello'. _She don't look good at all. The fuck's going on?_

"I think I hurt myself." she pressed out between clenched teeth. The words felt like they were physically hurting **him**.

"Oh really? Ya think? Dammit Bay!" he lashed out in a moment of helplessness and not knowing how to deal with that feeling that tortured him. Yes it sucked that she didn't feel well, but it shouldn't affect him that intensely, right?

"Oh please, think I did this on purpose?!" Bay sounded winded and the expression in Daryl's eyes turned softer. He felt panicked and nervous and now on top of that he felt really bad for lashing out. He took a deep breath while he looked her over, and that's when he noticed her shallow breathing. _Good God don't tell me she punctured a lung or shit like that. _"What happened?" he asked with a much gentler voice.

"I don't know. About two hours ago I started feeling this weird dull ache in my chest, on the right side. I didn't think much of it and kept working and with time it started spreading around to my back and it got more and more intense. It hurts to breathe, it feels like someone wrapped a steel belt around me right here... "she pointed to the spot right underneath her right breast. "It's only the right side from the spine to the front, right underneath,... ummm... my... boob..." even though she was in pain she still blushed about saying that last word.

"I'm taking ya to the ER." he started the engine. "You hear something crack? Felt something break?"

"No, nothing's broken. No ER, Daryl. I just wanna go home, please. Maybe I threw my back out or something, please just take me home." she pleaded with him while she moved her torso around in an effort to find a comfortable position. The pain was bad and no matter what she did, it didn't get better and that scared her, but not quite enough to go to the ER and be confronted with a big hospital bill.

"Fine. We wait until tomorrow. If it ain't better by noon tomorrow, you're seeing a damn doctor." his voice left no room for discussion. Bay didn't feel like arguing anyway. During the drive she kept moving back and forth and from side to side and when nothing worked she pushed the heels of her hands into her eyes, trying to keep the tears at bay. Daryl felt like his heart was hurting from watching her. She was in agony, that much was clear and it was hard to bear for him. He tried to remember what to do when you hurt your back and he thought that painkillers and a warm bath were probably a good idea.

He beat her to the bathroom, once they arrived at home, and drew her a bath while she still tried to get rid of the pain by moving around. When he came out of the bathroom she was trying bending over and touching her feet with her fingertips, hoping to stretch out whatever had gotten messed up inside her body. "Hey, come on, stop. I don't think that's helping any." He gently grabbed her arms and carefully helped her straighten again. His stomach clenched painfully when he noticed her eyes glistening with un-shed tears. The image of his hand on her face, caressing her cheek flashed in front of his inner eye, but he pushed it down for the moment, because it was more important to get her into the bathroom than to touch up on her. "Bath is ready. Try soaking it, maybe it'll help."

"Thanks." she gave him a grateful smile, but it didn't reach her tired eyes. "Make yourself at home. I'll be out soon." she went into the bathroom, and while Daryl searched her cabinets for some useful supplies, Bay sunk into the hot water and hoped for the best. It definitely helped relaxing her and after a couple of minutes she felt the pain lessen a bit. She closed her eyes and tried to keep her muscles relax and with the pain getting better, she dozed off a little bit.

Daryl let her be for half an hour, but then he had to knock on the door, because he really had to take a piss. "Bayanne? You doing okay?"

"Yes. The warm water helps."

"Good. You think you'll be coming out soon?" he hated disrupting her bath, but he really had to go.

"You gotta pee?"

"Yeah."

"Can you do it with someone else in the room?"

"Eeerrmm... yeah." his eyes widened when he realized why she was asking. He was possibly about to enter a room where a very naked Bayanne was sitting in a bathtub and the only thing that covered her was a bit of soapy water.

"Okay, I'll close my eyes and you keep yours up and don't look towards the bathtub, alright?" She was already blushing and he hadn't even opened the door yet. This was kind of embarrassing, but she didn't want to give up the comfort of the water yet and she didn't want him to have to go pee outside the building. At least it would be a bit embarrassing for the both of them, not just for her.

"You sure?"

"Yes. I don't wanna come out yet."

"Alright. I'm coming in." _Eyes up, eyes up, eyes up, eyes up! Don't look at her, don't look at her,... well already seen her tits. She'd be fine if she'd just cross her legs. Goddamn, I'm a fucking pig. _Now he couldn't get the image of her bare breasts out of her head and he imagined what she would look like laying naked in the tub, if she **wouldn't** cross her legs to shield her most private parts from his curious eyes. _Don't let me get wood now, Jesus fucking Christ... think about something else, man! _All this went through his head on the very short trip into the bathroom and over to the toilet. He kept his eyes up strictly until his back was to her and he was in front of the toilet and he sighed in relief when he had made it there without getting a boner. He opened his pants, pulled himself out of his boxers and started relieving himself, while he let his gaze roam to the mirror that was above the sink right next to him, not thinking much about it. His eyes widened and his breath caught, when he saw Bay with her eyes squeezed shut, laying in the tub. He wasn't able to see anything but her head and the top of her chest, but the image was still enough to fuel his imagination. He smirked in amusement when he noticed that she was crossing her arms in front of her chest, at the same time he was a bit impressed that she wasn't even trying to take a peek at him. Curiosity must not be in her nature, he guessed. He averted his eyes again, wanting to play fair and while he zipped himself back up he fought the urge to ask her if she didn't trust him if she was shielding herself even though they had agreed not to look. That would have given away the fact that he had accidentally looked and he didn't want her to be even more embarrassed.

"Don't you wash your hands?" she asked with a frown when he was almost out the door.

"Right, sorry..." he had forgotten while he'd focused on not looking down at her while he passed the tub. He walked back to the sink and quickly washed his hands, then he walked out and closed the door behind him, a little smirk still gracing his lips. "Clear."

* * *

The bath had helped, but only for the time she had actually spent in the tub. Shortly after she had gotten out and had donned her sleep outfit of shorts and top, the pain had come back. She soon was on her knees next to the sofa bed, her upper body resting on the bed while she arched her back, making it round like a cat. She felt like it was the best position to bear the pain in, because the pain killers were not working either.

"I have an idea." Daryl spoke up after having watched her kneel there for a couple of minutes. "You got a hot water bottle?"

"No..."

"Alright... " he sighed. This girl didn't have anything except for her damn noodles. "I'll figure it out." he had an idea of what to do, his Uncle had mentioned this trick to him some time ago. He grabbed a towel and a washcloth from the bathroom and saturated it with water. He folded it neatly and placed it in a plastic bag he had found while rummaging through her kitchen earlier. He microwaved the washcloth for a minute, then he carefully pulled it out, trying not to burn himself on it, and put the little packet on the towel and wrapped the towel around it. He took the hot compress and went over to Bay and knelt behind her.

"Don't take this the wrong way..." he cleared his throat, while he gingerly took her top between thumb and forefinger. "... but it might be better if ya pull this up or take it off. Imma try to warm up those muscles again and then Imma try to give ya a back rub, okay? Maybe that'll work. Got some lotion lying around or something? Don't need ya getting sore."

Usually Bay would have died from all her blood rushing to her head because she would blush so damn hard at the mere thought of taking off her top in front of him, but with the pain she was in, she was way past caring. She was willing to try anything to get rid of that horrible pain. She realized that in the end he wouldn't see anything anyway with the position she was in, so she was safe where that was concerned. The thought that Daryl had seen her breasts already didn't occur to her, she had pushed that little piece of knowledge into the deepest depths of her brain. "Bathroom." She mumbled in reply to his question about the lotion, and while he went looking for it, she quickly took off her top and assumed her previous position again.

Daryl felt his dick twitch at the sight that greeted him when he came back. So much beautiful soft skin, and he'd get to touch it. _Damn she looks good. _He groaned inwardly, but her predicament helped him get a grip on himself. This was not about his fantasies, this was about helping her out. He knelt down behind her again, straddling her legs as he gently pressed the hot compress to her back, right of her spine. "Here?"

"Little lower." she guided him and moaned quietly when she felt the pain ease up a bit again. Applying direct heat to the area seemed to do the trick. "Yeah right there, that's so good."

"'s it help?" he was chewing on his bottom lip again, the situation was definitely not an easy one to handle for him. So many conflicting emotions at once.

"It does." she murmured with her eyes closed. Daryl kept it on there for a good 10 minutes until he removed it and placed it next to her on the sofa-bed. He grabbed the bottle of lotion and squirted some into his right palm. "Alright, let's try that rub now."

"Okay."

Daryl carefully placed his hand on the heated skin, making her jump slightly. "Sorry." he mumbled as he watched goosebumps break out on her skin. He started by gently spreading the lotion on the right side of her back, from where it hurt up to her shoulder and back down. Bay bit her lip as she shivered for a completely different reason than cold lotion touching her back. Despite the pain, Daryl's gentle touch felt incredibly good. She had never felt anything like it. It wasn't so much sexual as it touched her emotionally. It's been a long time since she'd experienced any gentleness and it usually had come from her grandmother and not from her crush, so this was a slightly different and much deeper experience than before. Unbeknown to her, Daryl felt the exact same way, even though he was giving it and not receiving it. He'd never done this for anyone and it surprised him that it felt this good. Apart from noticing how soft her skin really was and storing that information away for later, he felt like at that moment, he was forming some kind of connection to her and it was strong and kind of intense. He had to take a deep breath in order to not let it overwhelm him, and he focused all his energy back on her. He started pressing his thumb into the muscle right next to her spine and he immediately felt a butt-load of hard and lumpy spots.

"Damn... no wonder you're in pain, girl. Your damn back's full of knots. This hurt?"

"No, it's fine. Just please don't do it any harder." she winced a little when he pressed on one of the knots and massaged it in an effort to have it loosen up. It was a bit painful, but also really good.

"This where it hurts?" he asked again to make sure.

"Not just there. It's like a line that runs from side to side, from my spine to my side..."

"Here?" he followed the line she had described with his fingers and she nodded.

"Yes."

Daryl massaged the area gently, happy when he felt her relaxing more and more underneath his fingertips. When he got to her side he was so focused that he didn't notice that his fingers were gliding along the side of her breast while his thumb was massaging the end of "the line". Bay jumped with an audible gasp, making Daryl freeze. "I'm sorry..."

"It's okay... just tickled." she giggled a little with embarrassment, thinking that it wasn't the only place where that touch had tickled. She was slowly getting new to that new sensation that happened every other time she was around Daryl. It was still weird, but it got better with every time it happened. She wasn't able to see the little grin on Daryl's lips. Another piece of information to remember during his private shower time. He was racking up quite the collection of Bay-specific fantasies. _Sensitive tits... That girl's gon' kill me._

"This helping at all?" he realized that he hadn't asked yet if the massage was actually working.

"I think so." Bay yawned. She was really tired, but the pain wouldn't let her sleep yet. Daryl stopped his massage when her skin got too red and went to make another hot compress. For almost one and a half hours he alternated between pressing the compress against her back and then giving her a massage for another couple of minutes. The skin soon felt numb to Bay, she figured because of the heat and the constant rubbing, but her muscles still hurt, so Daryl had kept going. Eventually he'd managed to get the pain to lessen so much that she had fallen asleep while still on her knees. When he noticed, he stopped his kneading and just gently kept stroking his hand along her back for a moment.

"Ya gotta quit that job, girl." he murmured, not knowing that she already had. Right after the pain had gotten so bad that he had barely been able to stand it, she had grabbed a pen and a sheet of paper from the message board in the break room and had hand-written her resignation. She simply wasn't able to handle it anymore without damaging her body in the process, as hard as it was to admit. The job was not made for a woman. She had tried, but it had been too much. However Daryl had yet to find out about it. His thumb softly rubbed along the red flesh on her back and in the spur of the moment he leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss against the aggravated skin. He closed his eyes as he felt a wave of something crash down all over him, and before he pulled away, the tip of his nose nuzzled her for a split-second. _The fuck am I doing? Takin' advantage of her while she's sleeping. Class act, Dixon. _He sighed in disappointment at himself, then he grabbed their blanket and draped it over her, so she wouldn't get cold and to cover her up her nudity, before he carefully lifted her into bed, hoping that the change of position wouldn't bring the pain back and make her wake up. He laid down close next to her and slowly pulled half of the blanket over himself. He watched her sleep peacefully, her face finally relaxed and no longer contorted in pain. He remembered his little vision from earlier and this time he reached out and gently pushed a strand of hair behind her ear before he let his fingertips skim her cheek. "Goodnight." he whispered quietly, before he let his eyes fall shut and succumbed to sleep. It was already after two am, and work would be a bitch the next day. Now he hated even more that he wouldn't see her the whole weekend. He hoped she would be okay.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Once again, sorry for any mistakes or typos. I'm a little out of sorts and my son had a little accident today and was bleeding from his head and I'm still spooked. **

**Thank you Snowbird and Guest for your wonderful reviews. I'm glad you enjoy these little moments between the two of them while they are still being so careful and innocent with each other:) Much much love to both of you and I hope you are doing well.**


	10. Chapter 10

**If you like Bethyl and BDSM-style stories go and check out "Burning Desire" by PrincessPears. It promises to be killer and truly addictive. **

* * *

**Chapter 10**

They slept in the next morning, which was bad for Daryl. He hadn't remembered to set her alarm clock and when he woke up because he had to pee, it was already 7.30 am. "Shit!" he cursed under his breath and jumped out of bed and dashed into the bathroom. He was still dressed, he just had to put on his shoes, grab his keys and run. If traffic was good, he might just make it to work on time. Bay didn't rouse while he ran around the small apartment, looking for his things. She was utterly exhausted and sleeping the deepest she probably ever had. Before he left he knelt on the bed and carefully leaned over her.

"Bay?" he whispered. "Bay, I gotta go." Nothing. She was still out like a light. Daryl sighed and put his hand on her arm for a second, feeling the warm, soft skin one last time before he had to leave for a good 36 hours. He didn't want to leave just like that and have her wondering where he had gone. He looked around, but wasn't able to locate a pen and paper, so he grabbed her handbag and rummaged through its contents, shoving aside granola bars, small bags of candy, and feminine hygiene products, until he reached the pen at the bottom of the bag. Still no paper, tough. His gaze went back to her sleeping form and without taking any time to think it over, he was scribbling his note on her arm. When he was finished he took one last look at her face, then he left with a bit of a heavy heart. He really was worried that she'd be in pain again and he wouldn't be there to help her, but he took it as a good sign that she had been sleeping well.

However, he wasn't able to stop thinking about it, so when he had a little break, he jogged down to the end of the street where he'd seen a phone booth earlier. He dug some coins out of the pocket of his camouflage cargos and dialed Sam's number, hoping that he was still home and not already out and about.

"Yeah?" Daryl was relieved when Sam picked up.

"Hey, it's Daryl."

"Hey my man,... what's up?"

"Your girl with ya?"

"Yes, why?"

"Can you put her on?" Daryl asked and chewed on the inside of his bottom lip while he waited.

"Uh... suuure..." Sam replied with a frown marring his features, not knowing what to make of Daryl's request. He'd never talked to Erin much, why was he calling now just so he could talk to her? "Babe... it's for you... It's Daryl."

"Daryl?" Erin was frowning as well. This was definitely new. "Alright..." She took the phone from her boyfriend and held it to her ear. "Daryl? Hi, what is it?"

"I need a favor."

"What kind of favor?"

"I need ya to go and check on Bay today. She's hurtin' and might need help." Daryl informed her and while he did it, he felt his cheeks heating up. He was admitting to Erin that he'd been with Bay and that was still something he wasn't used to.

"Hurting? What happened? Is it bad?" Erin, always the caring one with the biggest heart, was immediately filled with worry for her friend.

"Dunno. Something with her back. It was bad last night, but she slept good. I'm outta town 'til tomorrow night. Would be good if ya went over there and checked if the pain was back. If so, ya gotta drag her to see a doc, okay? No matter what she says, she's gotta go if it ain't better today." Daryl emphasized the last part especially. If it wasn't gone today it needed to get fixed by a professional. He never wanted to witness her being in pain like that ever again.

"You got it, Daryl. Don't worry, I'll look after her." Erin promised. She tried, but she wasn't able to keep her huge smile out of her voice. How she wished those two crazy kids would become a couple. Daryl was so good to her already and they both deserved each other.

"Thanks. See ya around." Daryl wasn't much for pleasantries, also he didn't have any more coins, so he had to cut it short anyway. He hung up and ran back to the house they were working on.

Erin meanwhile giggled happily as she handed the phone back to Sam. He looked at her curiously. "What did Daryl want? Something about Bayanne?" Sam had only caught Erin's end of the conversation, but from the words 'I'll look after her' and Daryl's general protectiveness over Bay, Sam had figured that something was up with her.

"Bay hurt her back. He asked me to check on her while he's out of town. Told me to drag her to a doctor if the pain is back. He's sweet." Erin smiled and snuggled her petite frame into her boyfriends strong arms.

"Sweet and abso-fucking-lutely in love with that girl. He slept there again, didn't he?"

"Sounds like it."

"Hm, maybe he's coming around. If he told you he knows that I will know about it."

"Let's not get our hopes up too high. It will just tempt us to try and push them together again, and we all know what happened the last time we tried. No, we'll be good and keep out of it." Erin stated decisively, before she slapped her hand down on his knee. "Come on, let's go and see how she is doing."

* * *

"Oh hey guys!" A smiling Bay greeted the couple when she opened the door for them. "What are you doing here?"

"Daryl called. He said you were in pain and asked me to check on you." Erin explained while she and Sam entered the apartment.

"He did?" Bay was grinning happily while the butterflies wreaked havoc in her belly.

"Yes, he did." Erin giggled. "But you don't look like you're in pain anymore."

"No, thank God I am not. I'm sore as hell, but the pain is gone."

"Lemme see." Erin took her hand and pulled her into the bathroom, leaving Sam to look around a bit.

"So this is where the awkward magic happens..." he chuckled quietly when his gaze landed on Bay's old sofa-bed, before he sat down at the edge of it to wait for the girls to come back out.

"Holy shit, Bay! You look like a freaking lobster!" Erin gasped when she saw Bay's back after lifting her shirt. "He rubbed you raw! And I think he burned you, too."

"It's fine. It felt good while he was doing it. I needed it and it helped. I don't mind being a little sore. That pain was way worse." Bay waved her off, not liking how Erin blamed Daryl.

"Pfff... a **little** sore would be fine, but this is **very** sore. You have to put something on that. Calendula creme is good for that I think. Let's go out and get you some." Erin let go of the shirt to cover Bay back up.

"Fine. I was just about to go out anyway. I need a new job. I quit my factory job last night when this happened." Bay said and turned back towards the sink where she had been scrubbing Daryl's message off her arm 'Had work. Out of town til Sunday. Bye.' She thought it was kind of cute of him to let her know he would be gone. Not that she had expected him to be around, they've never seen each other on the weekends except for when she worked a weekend shift at the store.

"You quit? Oh thank God, that's good news. You already have something in mind you'd like to do?"

"Yes. First I will invest in a good bra that will add some volume up here," she waved her hands around her cleavage. " and then I will check the places around here for a waitress job."

"Mhm..." Erin couldn't help but grin. "And that bra... that's just for work and has absolutely nothing to do with a young, cute guy who spends the night every now and then?"

"When does he get to see my bra?" Bay laughed, but Erin just quirked her eyebrow and pointed at her back. "Yeah okay... but if that wouldn't have happened... It's for work. I'll need some new mascara and lip-gloss, too. Can't go in there looking like Death. Sucks spending the money though, especially if it's in vain.

"It won't be in vain. Even if it won't get you a job, at least you bought something nice for yourself. Now come on, I'm guessing you have a long day ahead of you." Erin grabbed her arm and pulled her out of the bathroom. "Sam, you can go home. I'll stay with Bay. We're going shopping and then we'll find her a job."

"Alright." he smiled and pulled Erin into his arms to kiss her goodbye. Bay discreetly looked away while they kissed. She felt a pang of envy inside of her. She was starting to think about kissing Daryl way too often lately and she wished she could just step into his arms and kiss him, like Erin was doing with Sam. "Have fun. Good luck Bay." Sam touched her arm in passing in a friendly gesture and then left the girls to their plans.

"Okay, sweetie. Grab your money and let's go. It's noon already." Erin urged her with a happy giggle, still a little dazed from her boyfriend's kiss.

"Yeah, yeah, bossy pants. On it..." Bay laughed and went to get some cash from her bag.

* * *

Things finally seemed to be looking up for Bay. Both, hers and Erin's feet hurt from walking around town so much, but it had paid off. Nine hours after they had left the apartment they were back, lounging on Bay's couch and painting each others nails. Bay had a new bra and some new cosmetics, but more importantly, she had a new job. Bayanne Moore was the newest waitress at Shoney's for the shift that started at 5 pm and ended at 9 pm for five times a week. She had heard a while ago that the waitresses there made good tips and if she was really lucky, she might make the same money, maybe even a little more, than at the carpet factory, and for less work at that. Even though she would work every day, the hours were shorter and she'd be home earlier at night, which also meant a little more sleep every day. She knew serving tables was hard work, too, because customers could be really tough, but she was looking forward to the new job anyway. The boss had asked her to come in tomorrow and work a trial day and have the others show her the ropes and she was more than willing to do that. She was in such a good mood, that she forgot her dismay at spending "unnecessary" money today.

"HA!" Bay startled and accidentally painted Erin's finger when the girl barked the word out in a unladylike manner.

"Jeeeesus. What?" Bay pressed her hand against her heart for a moment.

"I should be a counselor or something." Erin explained and waved her magazine around. "There's an article about how to make your first time less horrible. Wanna hear what it says? Listen, 'Know your body. Understanding your own anatomy can help you feel more confident. It's important to figure out what you enjoy, so you can communicate that to your partner and ensure that you both have a good experience. Masturbation can help with this. Try to pay attention to how you respond to different touches.' That's exactly what I told you, there you have it. I actually know things." the girl laughed and touched Bay's red cheek. "Oh Baaaay, come on..."

"I know, I know, I'm being silly. I have to get used to people talking about this. I'm trying. There's actually something I've been wondering about..." The question she had in mind didn't help Bay at all to loose the redness in her cheeks.

"You can ask me anything. Shoot." Erin looked at her eagerly. She was a bit excited about Bay actually having questions and asking her for advice.

"This is really embarrassing, you really don't have to answer if you don't want to..."

"Just ask, Bay."

"Okay. What... I mean, how...? God, how do I ask this? Umm, what is the general opinion of how girls should look down there? I mean hair-wise?" Bay, once again, was mortified, but she wanted to know.

"Well, you have several options. There's no specific way of how girls **should** look. Just do what you feel good with. Stay natural, trim it, go bald, leave a landing strip,... you can do whatever you want."

"What do guys like?" Bay asked quietly, hoping Erin wouldn't think she was asking for any specific reason,... namely Daryl. Not like he would ever see it, but Bay was starting to wonder about all kinds of boy-girl-stuff lately.

"Every guy is different, Bay. Every guy prefers something else, but I can tell you that a lot of guys actually don't really like it completely bald. Sam calls it the 'crack in the wall-look', and from what he tells me, most guys he knows feel the same. They like at least some hair to stay on. I don't know this for sure, but I think that most men prefer hair, as long as it's neat, you know? Of course, I guess there's also guys who like it completely natural or completely bald, but the general consensus seems to be that trimmed is best."

"Right." Bay nodded. "Thanks."

Erin smirked, she couldn't help it, Bay was just so cute with her red face, she just had to tease her a little bit. "Want me to help you shave a landing strip?"

"ERIIIIIN!" Bay blushed a deeper shade of red and hid her face, while Erin knelt up and wrapped her arms around the embarrassed girl. "That's not funny."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Some opportunities are just too good to pass up. Consider it practice, sweetie. Trust me, when you hang out with us more, you'll get used to it quickly. The guys talk about sex all the time. If you show them that it embarrasses you, they'll tease you every chance they get." Erin sat back down and smiled. "Any more questions?"

"Yes. I've been thinking about it and I just can't figure out... what do you do with a guy? For example when you make out with one. What do you do with your hands? What do they like? I know they like blowjobs and sex in general, but what do you do in between?"

"Guys like to be touched and kissed, too. That's why I think it's important for you to try out what you like. It might give you an idea of what he could like. You can kiss and suck on his neck, his chest, his thighs,... everything. You can rub your hands all over his body, scratch your nails along his skin a little, play with his nipples if he's into that. I hear some guys get really turned on by that while others couldn't care less about having them touched. That's for you to figure out with your future boyfriend. Guys are not into hard and fast all the time, you know? They like it gentle, too, but the difference between us and them is, that they prefer firmer touches. I read that somewhere and it's true for Sam. It's because their skin is thicker than ours or something like that. So you can be careful and gentle when you explore him, but use more pressure than you would use on yourself."

"I love you." Bay smiled, loving that Erin was so open and answered everything to her best ability without judging Bay for her innocence and lack of knowledge.

"Love you, too. Now give me your hand. It's your turn."

* * *

It was a good weekend. And maybe it was a really good weekend to make some changes. Daryl wasn't coming over, because he was God knows where, and Erin had gone back to Sam's place. Bay was happy and full of positive energy and needed something to do before she went to sleep. She took the last sip of wine from her glass, closed all the blinds and locked the door from the inside. Not that anybody would just barge in or come over at all, but she wanted to make sure that she was absolutely alone for the next part of her evening. She went into her bedroom and took off her shorts and her top and looked at her underwear-clad body in the mirror. She loved the new push-up bra. It wasn't one of those that pushed her boobs together so much that it looked like her ass was coming out her front. It just added a gentle swell to her cleavage and for the first time ever, Bay felt a little sexy. Too bad that she now had that scar forming right between her breasts, but she wasn't bothered by it too much. She took off the bra and her panties a little later and looked at her naked body. She thought she looked okay. She didn't have supermodel curves, but what she had was well-proportioned, except for that little extra around the waistline the good Lord had "blessed" her with. She had lost weight in the past year, but she wasn't bony. Probably due to the baby-fat she still had left. It gave her a slim, but soft appearance. _Yeah, not too pretty, but it could be worse. Would Daryl like me if he saw me like this? He looks so good, he could have every girl he wanted, girls with nicer bodies... _She shook her head, pushing the depressing thought of Daryl kissing another girl out of her gaze dropped to the triangle of dark hair that covered her mound. _Let's do something about that. Time to try something else._ She filled the sink with warm water and grabbed a razor and a hand mirror. She covered the toilet lid with a towel, sat down, positioned the mirror and went to work to give herself a "landing strip", as Erin had called it.

She worked slowly and carefully and highly focused so she wouldn't cut herself or end up looking all crooked. About 20 minutes later she felt like she was finished and took in the result of her work. "Okay... I like it. Not bad. Now at least I know what's down there." she mumbled to herself and got up to take a look in the full-length mirror on the door, which was usually covered by her bathrobe. She was satisfied with her work and felt good about it. After cleaning up after herself she drew herself a bath and soon let her body soak in the hot water. She closed her eyes and thought of Daryl. She thought of his angelic face, his beautiful eyes and his gorgeous smile. Those lips, oh man those lips. They were thin, but still ridiculously luscious and they looked so damn soft. They were perfect. She loved watching his lips move when he talked. Bay felt the now familiar pull inside her belly, just a little bit at first, but it got stronger when she imagined those lips kissing hers. She flushed when she imagined their tongues coming into play, and that's when she slowly let her fingers trail over the skin of her belly and up to her breasts.

To her surprise she noticed that her nipples were rock-hard. She hadn't even notice that they had tightened before, when she had been feeling like this. Goosebumps broke out on her skin when she let her fingertips glide all around the small globes of her breasts, drawing circles and letting them get smaller and smaller, until she softly tickled her own nipples, while she imagined the tip of Daryl's tongue tickling her own. She moaned and her eyes snapped open, half in shock and half in surprise, when she shuddered hard and when she learned that this pull of arousal had gotten even stronger and that she started to feel a kind of need. She took a deep and shaky breath before she relaxed and closed her eyes once more. This time she imagined Daryl's hands. She knew by heart what they looked like by now, and since yesterday she also knew how they felt on her skin and how gentle Daryl was able to be. She thought of the night before, how his hand had slid over her back repeatedly, how surprisingly good not only that had felt, but also how much she had enjoyed feeling his strong fingers dig into her skin. Her breathing picked up when she remembered how his fingertips had slid across the sensitive side of her breast. She let her own fingers trace the small path his fingers had taken last night, but unlike him she didn't stop, she let her hands close over her breasts and gave them a little squeeze. It felt nice, no doubt, but the touch didn't satisfy her. It only made her need grow stronger. Curiously, but also nervously, she let her hands leave her boobs and let them slide in the opposite direction, while she still imagined Daryl's hands doing this to her. She cupped herself between her legs, trying to get a feel for it and letting her fingertips stroke over the newly bared skin, she had never touched in this way. Once again, it did feel nice, but instead of more aroused she grew frustrated, more and more with every second. That need felt like it was eating her up and she started realizing, that she didn't really want to do this to herself. She needed and wanted Daryl to do this to her. It was his hands and his mouth she was imagining, but it wasn't his hands or his mouth that were touching her right now and that frustrated her to no end.

At the same time that realization scared her a little. She had never been interested in sex, she had only started thinking about it in the past week and now she already wanted Daryl to do these things to her? To kiss her, squeeze her breasts and rub his fingers over her newly shaved and trimmed privates? What in the world was happening to her? Was it normal that these things developed at this fast rate or was she some kind of freak? _Maybe masturbation isn't for everyone._ Bay sighed in defeat and let her hands rest on her belly. The start had been nice, but the stronger her arousal had gotten, the more frustrated and angry she had become at not being able to feel Daryl. _Or is it supposed to happen this way? Oh God, why don't I _have_a phone? I need Erin. _Bay sighed deeply, but she wasn't utterly disappointed by her failure to completely explore herself and give herself an orgasm. At least she knew she was able to feel some kind of sexual feelings and in the right setting and with the right person, she would actually get turned on and would want to have sex. That's a step in the right direction, right? _Maybe I gotta try again another time._ And with that she slid down the tub, submerging herself in the water to wet her hair thoroughly, so she could wash it before she headed to bed.

* * *

Daryl might or might not have broken one or two speed limits on his way back to Dalton on Sunday night. He couldn't wait to get back. Of course that had absolutely nothing to do with 'that damn Bayanne girl'. Yeah, right! He wasn't able to stop imagining Bay's face when he would show her what he'd done. He hoped she'd be happy and his heart started beating more than just a tad faster, when he pictured her joy. Would she be proud of him? He had to admit that he was pretty damn proud of himself about what he'd accomplished this weekend. He hoped she'd be a little bit proud as well as happy. Getting recognition from people he cared about was something he was secretly striving for. It was a side effect of his love-less childhood. He'd been taught that he was trash and that there wasn't a single thing about him that was worth being proud of. Daryl still felt some pride when he was able to do something good and/or right, but he had stopped showing those emotions to the people around him a long time ago. Bay was slowly changing that, she had him feel excited for the first time in a very, very long time. He was so stoked about showing up at her place with his all those things that were stuffed into the space of the backseat area of his truck, he was about to burst with all the impatience filling him. He also wasn't able to deny to himself the fact that he really had missed seeing her over the weekend. It had been a weird experience. He'd never seen her before on the weekends and he hadn't seen her all that much during the week, except at night for maybe half an hour on the days he hadn't slept at her place, so not seeing her on a Saturday shouldn't have been a big deal, except that it had been. He had done well during the days, but when nighttime had rolled around he'd gotten restless and had thought about her the whole damn time. What was she doing? Was she feeling okay? Was she eating? _Is she thinkin' 'bout me maybe?_ He'd had a lot of time to think this weekend and he had realized that he wanted her to think about him and that he wanted her to miss him as well, but in the end it wouldn't matter, because it wasn't like he was going to ask her if she had indeed done those things. He would never know, so it was stupid to even wonder about it. But damn, it would be really nice to know. His thoughts, however, terrified him in a way. Especially this weekend he'd felt like the ground had opened up and he was falling and falling and falling without any chance whatsoever to hold on to something and stop his fall. Whenever that feeling sneaked up on him he felt breathless and like his chest was too tight to contain his heart. _Sounds fucking silly, but that's what it is._ It wasn't unpleasant, but it was unfamiliar and he didn't know what to do about it, rendering him helpless and he didn't like feeling helpless. That this feeling occurred every time he thought about Bay made him a bit panicky, because deep down he knew what it meant and he still refused to believe that he was indeed falling in love. He knew that if it was really happening, there would be no way back. Never, probably. She would get through that tiny hole she had hammered into the wall that was protecting his heart, and as soon as she was inside, that hole would close up again and would never let her out. And that would give her the power to hurt him deeply. Another fact Daryl wasn't too comfortable with.

Daryl stopped at Patrick's first to drop some things off and to grab some clean clothes. He was happy to see that Jessa was there, it meant he really would have a reason to show up at Bay's and stay the night again. He stuffed the clean clothes into a duffel bag and tossed it into the backseat and then he finally took the drive over to Bay's. He parked right in front of the building and grabbed as much from the backseat as he was able to carry at once, and went inside. His mood got a damper when his knocking and calling out for her went unanswered. Panic suddenly gripped him. He had asked Erin to check on her and get her to a doctor if the pain would return. _Shit, she ain't in a damn hospital, is she? Fuck! _He dashed down to his car, deposited the items in his hands back on the backseat and got behind the wheel. He drove to the Wal Mart, hoping that Sam or Erin or both would be there. When he got there, he didn't bother getting out of the car. He spotted Sam, put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. Sam jogged over and greeted his friend with a smile.

"Hey man! Whassup?"

"Bay ain't home." Daryl simply stated.

"Okay. Good to know, thanks." Sam said with a straight face, getting a kick out of Daryl's annoyed expression.

"Don't get funny with me, man. She in the hospital?"

"Nah, she's fine. No pain. She's working." Sam explained, finally putting Daryl's mind at ease, but only for a second.

"Working? At the damn carpet mill?" Daryl's voice rose in volume. Surely that girl of his would be that stupid... right?

"She quit that job on Friday, D. She forget to tell you? She found a new job already. She's the new waitress at Shoney's. Today's her trial day and if she does alright, she can start tomorrow."

"Really? Alright, thanks." Daryl immediately put the car in reverse and took off towards the restaurant. _Waitress at Shoney's, that's damn perfect!_ Shoney's was where him and the guys ate pretty regularly. He'd see Bay even more often now and he'd be able to keep an eye on the men around there and watch out that they wouldn't get grabby with her. That bit of news lifted his mood again. He also knew that the restaurant closed at 9 pm, which meant she'd be home earlier at night. Another hour or two more he'd spend with her whenever he stayed the night.

Just a couple of minutes later he entered Shoney's and looked around. His heart literally skipped a beat when he laid eyes on her. _Jesus fucking Christ she looks good. _The waitresses wore black skirts with red aprons and black girl shirts with nice v-cuts. Bay wore her long hair in a high ponytail, displaying her neck, Daryl found himself having a thing for, and she seemed to be wearing a hint of make-up. Daryl didn't know about make-up, so he wasn't sure what she had done, but her eyes looked more expressive and more alive and her lips were shiny. He also noticed the difference in her cleavage and instinctively bit his tongue when he imagined himself licking along the swell he saw peeking out from that v-cut of her shirt. He was still pumped and on adrenaline from his trip and the way she looked and how she was smiling happily while she breezed from table to table, it all had his primal urges in an uproar. _Grab her, kiss her, fuck her._ He shuddered when the images played out inside his head and he literally had to shake himself and remind himself where he was. He was standing in the middle of a busy restaurant, staring at the newest waitress like an idiot, and, if he wasn't careful, with a quite impressive boner.

"Daryl!" Bay looked damn excited to see him, even Daryl realized that and it made a little smile appear on his face.

"Hey... Didn't tell me you quit."

"Yeah, kind of forgot with all the pain going on. I'm sorry I fell asleep on you, I didn't even get to thank you properly. I was so grateful for your help." She smiled as she looked him over. He was downright filthy. "Good Lord, where have you been?"

"Woods..."

"Oh, okay. OOHH, I'm sorry, you're here to eat. Would you like a table or something to go?" she remembered that she was actually working and not here for socializing.

"Ain't here for eatin'... Just came back, Sam told me about your new gig. Came here... " he cleared his throat while heat creeped into his cheeks. "... to see ya..."

Bay of course didn't think that he meant that he was there to see **her**. "Jessa staying at Patrick's?"

"Yeah, but that ain'-"

Bay didn't let him finish. "Hold on. I'll be right back." She left him standing there and quickly dashed to her handbag in the locker room. She dug out her keychain and removed the second set of keys to her apartment from the key ring. She quickly went back out and handed them to a surprised Daryl. "Here. Go home and take a bath. I won't be much longer. Almost closing time. Sarah lives down the street from me, she'll give me a ride home. I need to get back to it. I'll see you later." And she was gone again. Daryl stood there looking at the keys in his hand, still a bit stunned. She trusted him with her keys? She wanted him to go **home**, to her place and take a bath? In **her **bathtub? Wow. He slowly turned around and walked out of the restaurant, still looking at the keys. He wasn't able to explain, but it meant a lot that she had given them to him and of her own free will. _Good think I brought clothes. _He thought with a little grin forming on his lips. This was even better, now he could really surprise her.

He went back to her place and took several trips to get everything from his truck upstairs. He put everything away, and when he was done, he took a step back to admire his work before he closed the cabinet doors. Next up was a bath. He turned on the faucet and let hot water fill the tub. He stripped off his dirty clothes and climbed into the tub. He sighed contentedly when the water engulfed his body. He hadn't taken a bath in years, only showers, and he'd forgotten how good it felt to lay in the hot water and relax. Unfortunately he was unable to relax just yet, his body had different ideas. He had been hunting with his uncle and Daryl had bagged himself a 200 pound deer with his uncle's compound bow. If anything ever made him feel like a man, it was a successful hunt. With the deer he wasn't just able to keep himself and Patrick fed for a while, but Bay as well and also the families he had given the rest of the meat to in exchange for other goods. Another thing a good hunt made him feel? Incredibly fucking horny. And now after seeing Bay at the restaurant, in that sexy little uniform, his body was throbbing with need. He needed release. Badly. His eyes closed and immediately various images of Bay flashed through his mind. He thought back to her sitting in the tub Friday night, the very same one he was sitting it right now. He grew hard instantly and wrapped his fingers around his turgid length to give it a good squeeze. In his fantasy he was in the bathtub as well and Bay was right across from him, perched on the rim.

"Open your legs, sweetheart." he heard himself tell her, not sure if he had just been thinking it or if he had actually said it out loud. Bay uncrossed her legs and slowly opened them. She blushed hard and it kind of excited him. He loved when she blushed. His gaze dropped between her legs to her pretty little pussy and he was suddenly overcome with the need to rub his face against it. He wanted to press his nose against her and smell her and it was killing him that he wasn't able to really smell her in that instant. The stiff tip of his tongue licked a long line up her slit and he gripped his cock harder in frustration at not being able to taste her. Right now he needed her taste on his tongue like he needed oxygen to breathe. He needed to switch fantasies or he would start howling and growling out his frustrations like a damn wolf. The image in his head shifted to another one from Friday night. Bay kneeling topless in front of him. Yeah, that was a good one. He actually knew how the naked skin on her back felt, that he could work with. Daryl quickly let some water out of the tub, so he'd be able to work better. He squirted some of Bay's shower gel into his hand and spread it all over his pulsing shaft. "Awww fuck..." he growled out quietly as he started working his fist up and down his rock hard erection. Not only did the friction feel damn amazing, but the shower gel smelled like Bay. It send his senses damn near into overload. He worked up a rhythm, up and down, nice and steady, only stopping on every other stroke to let his soapy, slippery thumb rub circles on his wide, bulbous tip. Pre-cum was already leaking out and mingling with the lather of the shower gel. Daryl let his hand move on auto-pilot as he focused back on the images inside his head. Bay on her knees with her bare back facing him. His hand slid up her back, he remembered exactly what it had felt like, it had been soft and warm and satiny. He imagined both of his hands gliding up to her shoulders, gently gripping her, his thumbs massaging the back of her neck while he pulled her up. He looked over her shoulder, down at her beautiful, perky tits. They were calling for his hands to cup them, so he did. His hands slid down her back, along that line he had massaged and forward. When his fingertips brushed the sides of her boobs she jumped and moaned, just like she had Friday night. The sound made his dick jump hard and his hand picked up speed. He cupped her tits and squeezed them firmly. He swore he was able to feel her goosebumps against his chest as she pushed back against him. Daryl lowered his head and bit into the juncture between neck and shoulder, marking the spot where he would leave a hickey while he fucked her from behind. He rolled her stiff nipples between two fingers and tugged at them none too gently. Bay mewled and ground her ass against his straining cock. The fingertips of his ring and pinky finger brushed against the cross that rested between her breasts and it turned him on even more. "Does my good little baby girl like it a bit rough?" He felt Bay shudder and in reality, he shuddered himself. He grit his teeth, his whole face tensed up and contorted in a mask of pleasure as his hand massaged his cock even faster. He was so close,... almost there.

"Yes. Please Daryl. I need you, please take me." she begged in that wonderful voice of hers. It was almost enough to bring him over the edge. In his fantasy he looked down and aligned himself with her virginal opening. He breathed harshly as he imagined pushing inside of her for the very first time, stretching her for the very first time,... being the first and the only one to ever be with her this way.

"Miiiiine!" a long drawn-out groan erupted from his lips, as thick, creamy jets of semen erupted from his cock in violent spurts. He kept rubbing himself, focusing on the over-sensitized ridge of his head, making himself jerk uncontrollably, but prolonging his orgasm just a bit more. When he wasn't able to take any more, he slowed the movement of his hand and slumped back, completely relaxed now. He was gasping heavily and felt like dozing off, when he got the shock of his life.

The front door slammed shut and Bay's happy voice echoed throughout the small apartment. "Daryl, I'm hoooome!"

This time he jerked in shock and his eyes snapped open in a panic. _Shit, shit, shit, shit. The fuck did I do? I beat off in her damn bathtub?! She's gon' smell it... fuck... no... I gotta keep her outta here... I need to get out there... I'm such a damn idiot. I wanted to protect her from dirty pigs? __**I **__am the dirty pig._ He got up and turned on the shower-head to rinse himself off real quick, then he climbed out and dried off and got dressed in record time.

"That was fast." he murmured when he met her in the living area. _Shit, can't even look at her right..._

"Yeah. They let me leave a bit early, because it was just a trial day, buuuut, I can start tomorrow. Isn't that great? And I was allowed to keep the tips. I made almost a hundred dollars already, can you believe it?"

Bay was so happy, it was contagious and he momentarily forgot about his indiscretion. "That's great, Bay. It's good that ya quit that damn carpet mill. Now,... I wanna ask ya to do something for me, alright?"

"Okay, anything. What is it?" Bay asked curiously.

"I need ya to eat more and better. No fucking artificial noodle shit every day."

"But Daryl, I already told you-"

"I know what ya told me. Don't worry, I figured something out." he wanted to take her hand to pull her into the kitchen, but he didn't dare take it. He put his hand on her arm instead and guided her towards her cabinets. He opened the fridge and the freezer and the cabinet doors, then he leaned against the counter and crossed his arms over his chest, with a bit of a smug smile on his face. "Surprise."

Bay's jaw dropped and she looked at everything in shock. There was packets of meat and different vegetables in the freezer. There was more meat in the fridge, along with eggs, bacon and milk. There were mason jars with canned fruits and veggies in her cabinets now, there was a sack of potatoes. It was enough to last at least a month, if not more, and only now did she notice the bowl with fresh peaches, apples and strawberries on the counter next to Daryl. "Please don't tell me you bought all this." she croaked out as she was on the verge of crying.

"Didn't spend a penny. Went hunting with my uncle. Got me a good big deer. Got meat for myself and Pat, got meat for you and the rest of the meat I traded for all of this stuff. My uncle knows a lot of people, he doesn't work, he gets by by hunting and trading the meat for other things. Talked to him on Thursday and arranged all this. We can do it more often and we will. Ya can't survive on that crap with all the chemicals in it, Bay. The money ya spent on that shit, you can spend on things like flour and sugar, cheese or whatever. Make yourself some decent shit. Ya know how to cook right?"

"Yeah... my grandma taught me..."

"Good. You got enough meat and vegetables for real meals for at least a couple of weeks. Don't ever wanna see a single pack of that shrimp noodle crap in here, alright? And yeah, I'mma check!" he threatened with a little smile and looked at her nervously. She looked shell-shocked and about to cry. He wasn't sure if that was a good sign or a bad sign. She just stood there, not saying anything. "Bay?" he asked when she still hadn't moved a minute later. She finally flicked her tear-filled eyes up at him and before he knew it, she was slung around him and hugging the hell out of him and her body was shaking from sobbing. "Bay?" he asked once more as he gently rested his hands on her shoulder blades. He was horrified that she was crying so hard.

"Thank you! You're... You're unreal, Daryl Dixon. You're not from this world. Thank you so much." she pressed her face into his chest and hugged him as hard as she could.

"So I did good?" he smiled slightly, finally getting the feeling that she was crying because she was so happy.

"Yes. Oh my God yes. You did more than good." she looked up at him and took his face in her hands. She pulled him towards her and gently and softly kissed his cheek a couple of times before she pulled back and looked him in the eyes for a moment. "You're an angel."

"Nah..." he blushed a little and looked away shyly. It made Bay want to kiss him even more. She wanted to tackle him to the ground and kiss his face all over and thank him a thousand times. She was so overwhelmed, she wasn't able to stop crying.

"I'm sorry, I need a minute, okay? I need a minute and I wanna get changed and then I'll make us some dinner, yes?" She let her thumbs stroke his cheeks briefly before she pulled away completely.

"Yeah, sounds good." he was smiling full-on now. He had hoped she'd be happy, but he hadn't expected her to be **this** happy. It felt incredibly good.

"Alright." Bay smiled through her tears and then quickly vanished into the bathroom. When the door clicked shut, Daryl suddenly remembered that it might still smell like sex in there, but much to his dismay, it was too late. It would look stupid to pull her out of there now. He hoped she wouldn't notice anything.

Bay meanwhile sat down on the closed toilet lid and cried it out. She tried to keep quiet, not wanting to make a scene by sobbing loudly, so she buried her face in a towel. It took a little while until she had calmed down. This weekend had been the best in a long time and she couldn't believe her luck. She fumbled with her cross necklace and laughed quietly. "Want to lure me back in, huh? I know we haven't been on good term in the past year, but maybe that's about to change. Thank you, God. Thank you so much for Daryl. You sent me the best you have. Take good care of my grandma. I'll go out there and make that wonderful man some dinner now. I'll talk to you soon." she pressed the silver cross against her lips for a short moment, then she took a deep cleansing breath and got up and changed into something comfortable. She was really happy. Finally things were really looking up for her.

* * *

**Thank you for reading, for following and favorite-ing and for leaving wonderful wonderful reviews.**

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	11. Chapter 12

**Chapter 11**

Four cheek kisses. Bay had been so happy that she'd kissed his cheek four times. Her happiness was so contagious, it even had him feeling happy, relaxed and content,... a little giddy even, because she had kissed his cheek four fucking times. That certainly made up for the past couple of days when he had been waiting and hoping for another one. He had been tempted to turn his head a little and have her lips land on his own, but he thought that, by jerking off in her bathtub, he had crossed enough boundaries for one night. He still wanted to spend the night and many more to come and it would be super awkward if he would have kissed her, or would have made her kiss him. But now that he thought about it he was really curious about how she would have reacted if they would have shared a real kiss. Would she have laughed it off? Would she have been embarrassed? Shocked? Angry? Happy? _Stop thinking about it. It didn't happen. _The hug had been nice, too. She fit against him perfectly, but he'd already known that from the way they had woken up a couple of days ago. She had been molded perfectly to his larger frame. _Fucking in that position might be fun. _He filed the thought under 'things to try out' and wandered over to her TV, still wearing a little smile on his face, to turn it on and switch to one of the music channels, because she didn't have a radio.

"Mind if I smoke?" he yelled toward the bathroom door when he felt the square package inside his pants pocket.

"Go ahead." came the muffled reply. Daryl was still a little on edge and worried that she might find out about what he'd done inside that bathroom, but since she hadn't come out yelling and screaming he seemed to be safe. On the other hand, she had been totally cool about his stiff dick being pressed up against her ass, he remembered, so even if she would smell something and she'd realize what he'd done just before she'd come home, she might not even mind. _She's cool like that,_ Daryl grinned to himself as he lit up a cigarette.

Bay came out of her bathroom in her sleep outfit a little while later. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she was smiling happily.

"Everything okay?" Daryl asked as he watched her walk to the kitchen.

"Perfect." she looked over her shoulder and sent him a beaming smile, which he returned. He joined her and sat down at the tiny breakfast bar.

"Good. Whatcha makin'?"

"I'm thinking deer steaks with potato wedges and broccoli? You like that?" she asked him while she looked into her fridge.

"Yeah, sounds damn good." Daryl smiled and felt a surge of manly pride inside of him. She was making him a home-cooked meal with ingredients **he **had provided for them by going hunting. It doesn't get more manly than that. _Damn, fucking horny again. Ain't just gonna wake up with a boner tomorrow, gonna fall asleep with one, too._ Bay traipsing around in her shorts and top without a bra was not helping matters at all, but he wouldn't trade the view for anything. He watched her grab some potatoes from the bag and scrub them as clean as possible under running water. She didn't have a brush to help along, so her fingers would have to suffice. Next she grabbed a big wooden cutting board and a knife and started cutting the washed potatoes into wedges. "Can I ask ya something?"

"Sure."

"Why did ya buy all the pots and skillets and shit, but ya never buy yourself any real food?"

"I didn't buy it. It was my grandma's. When she died most of her things went to charity, but I kept what I thought I could use for myself. That's why I have all the stuff. I used to watch her and help her cook and bake ever since I was able to climb on a chair and stand next to her at the counter." Bay explained with a wistful smile. "I didn't have it in me to give it away. Hm, which reminds me,... how long are spices good for?"

"Ya took those, too?" Daryl wasn't able to stifle an amused laugh.

"Yeah." Bay laughed as well. "I just went wild and took everything out of that kitchen. Except for perishables."

"Wish ya would have told me ya had those. Some pepper might've improved those shrimp noodles." Daryl joked, to which Bay scoffed out a laugh.

"I don't think even Martha Stewart would be able to improve those." While Daryl chuckled quietly, Bay put her knife down and walked to the cabinet where she kept her grandmother's spices. She got out the rosemary, thyme, pepper and salt, and smelled the herbs ones. "Still smells good. I don't think they go bad, do they? Just lose a bit of flavor maybe."

"Should be alright." Daryl nodded and noticed Bay eying the cigarette in his hand for a moment. "You want one?"

"Not while I'm cooking, but a little drag from it would be great." she smiled, and her happy mood made her a little bit bolder around him and instead of waiting for his reply, she took hold of his wrist and guided his hand to her mouth. Daryl's breath caught in his throat and he felt slightly dizzy when her lips closed around the filter and brushed his fingers in the process. The sensation shot up his arm and down through his entire body, making his bare toes curl and dig into the old cream-colored carpet. _Holy shit!_ It might have been one of the most intimate things he had ever experienced and he definitely wanted some more of that in the future. He made a mental note to always share one cigarette with her instead of giving her one for herself.

"Mmmm, awesome, thanks." Bay exhaled and turned back to the task at hand and continued cutting up the potatoes, while Daryl watched on in a daze. Nirvana's 'Come as you are' started playing on the TV, which had Bay smiling even more. "I love that song." she stated, more to herself, and without really noticing that she was doing it, she quietly sang along and swayed to the music while she put the potato wedges into a bowl and added the spices and some oil. She felt happy and carefree for the first time in years, she almost felt a bit drunk on happiness and it just burst out and let it show for Daryl to see how happy he was making her.

Daryl stood in front of the breakfast bar, his hands resting on top of it, while he watched her with his mouth slightly agape. His breath came out a little labored as his emotional world was in an uproar again. She literally stole his breath, he had that feeling of falling again and his chest was tight. _Why she gotta be so dang perfect? _He wanted to go up to her and hold her from behind, kissing and sucking on that neck and making her giggle while she made them dinner. Daryl screwed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose hard. _Goddamn... it's really happening, ain't it? I'm into that damn girl. Don't just wanna fuck her... I fucking like her and I want her ta like me back. Aw shit, man. That ain't good. What if she don't ever like me back? At least she's huggin' and kissin' on me every now and then. Gotta find a way to be okay with not getting more than that. _

"You okay, Daryl?"

"Yeah." he cleared his throat and exhaled a deep and heavy breath. "Just had somethin' in my eye." he shot her his tiny smile to reassure her, then he walked over to the sink and let water run over the cigarette butt before it burned all the way down and hurt his fingers. "I didn't know you could sing."

"Because I can't." Bay laughed lightly. "I just like doing it. I love music."

"What you like?" Daryl asked, hoping to distract himself from his sightly unsettling thoughts. Well, unsettling for him.

"Little bit of everything. If I had to choose I'd pick something like this." she motioned towards the TV where the song came to an end. "Nirvana, Bon Jovi, Classic Rock,... but in general I'm open to any- and everything. What do you like?"

"Bit of that stuff, too. Mötley Crüe, Metallica, old school punk..."

"Cool. That's what I thought. Kinda suits you."

"Ya thought about what kind of music I like?" he looked at her with a curious frown. _She blushing?_

"Ummm... " she hesitated, trying to come up with an answer that wouldn't be the outright truth, but wouldn't be an outright lie either, but failing miserably. She had never been very quick on her feet with these things. "Yeah..." she told the truth, but decided not to elaborate and hoped he wouldn't ask. She went back to the cabinet to put the spices back and spied one of those half-bottles of wine, her grandmother had kept around, in case she needed some wine for a sauce or other recipes, in the back of the cabinet. _Perfect._ She took it out and showed it to Daryl. "Look, that will go perfectly with our food and it looks like it will be enough for two glasses."

"Two pretty full glasses." Daryl smirked, but he found himself being glad that she had found the bottle. The wine might help loosen him up and make him forget about his predicament until the next morning and after that, work would keep him busy.

An hour later they were both seated at the small breakfast bar, eating their meal and drinking their wine. It was a really tight fit due to Daryl's ridiculously wide shoulders and their arms and legs kept brushing against each other the whole time, but neither of them minded. Not at all. "This is really good, Bay." he complimented her around a mouthful of tender deer steak.

"Yeah? I'm glad. I hope my stomach won't rebel. I haven't had something real like this in so long. Hm, but even if it does... totally worth it."

"I know, right?" Daryl smiled. "Yer grandma definitely taught ya right." he put his knife down and took another sip from his glass of wine. He might not have known a whole lot about romance, but if someone would ask him he'd say that this dinner had a bit of a romantic feel to it. Of course he'd kill that other person after he'd admitted it, so nobody would ever know that Daryl Dixon thought that dinner with his girl was romantic. _**My**__girl?! Don't get your hopes up, Dixon. Ain't your girl. Not yet... most likely never._ The thought was depressing and that was exactly why he'd never wanted her to get to his damn heart. It was in her hands now and she had the power to crush it and he was utterly powerless against it.

After dinner they straightened up the kitchen together real quick, then they took their glasses and moved to the couch. "Alright, what do we wanna watch?" Bay asked as she got comfortable underneath the blanket they shared.

"Holy fuck, Bayanne!" Daryl jerked when her bare feet brushed his bare legs. "You got fucking ice cubes for toes."

"I know, I'm a bit cold. Sorry." she apologized. "Friends is on... better than the rest, I guess. You okay with that?"

"Sure."

Bay put the remote aside and leaned back comfortably and slowly sipped the rest of her wine. When a commercial break came on she looked over at Daryl mischievously and slowly snaked her right foot closer to his leg and shoved it underneath his thigh, making him jump again. "Hey! Stop it, Ice Queen." he said in a warning tone, but his face displayed a humorous expression.

"But you're so nice and hot, like a radiator, and I can't get warm." Bay looked at him with puppy dog eyes and a little pout, the wine in her system making her courageous enough to be playful and flirty with him.

"You're giving this radiator freezer burn, sweetheart." Bay got a little shock to her system and butterflies rushed up her throat, making her feel like she had to vomit, but in a good way, when he called her sweetheart. "Come on, turn..." he made a swiveling motion with his index finger before he gently grabbed her ankle and pulled her foot out from underneath his thigh and pulled it into his lap instead. Bay felt faint, but she quickly turned so her back rested against the armrest and she put her other foot in his lap as well. Daryl put his warm hands on her small feet and started kneading them gently, and Bay couldn't believe that this was happening. _He really is an angel. He's unbelievable. _She blushed when a little blissful moan escaped her, making Daryl's eyes snap up to hers. "Good?"

"Yeah,... you... umm,... you're really good with your hands..." _Oh God, I'm an idiot._ "I mean... because of Friday night... when you rubbed my back... and now... Feels very nice. Thank you." her voice was almost squeaky with embarrassment. That was not what she had wanted to say at all, but damn, his hands felt so good, he was literally massaging her brains out. To Bay, touching someone's naked feet was something very intimate. She couldn't imagine doing it for someone else but Daryl. So that he was doing this for her meant a lot and sent all her nerve endings aflutter.

"Thanks... I like workin' with my hands." Daryl muttered. _What a stupid thing to say._ He tried not to let it show, but that she thought his hands felt nice made him proud and, of course, horny again. "Getting warmer?"

"Definitely." Bay sighed deeply with a little smile gracing her lips. The whole night felt so nice and intimate, she could definitely get used to this. She started to wish for him to spend every night here, but she couldn't get greedy. She already got so much more than other girls her age. Most of them never ever got this close to the boy they liked, much less have him rub their feet. He was so wonderful inside and out, her heart constricted every time she looked at him. She started to wonder if maybe, just maybe, there was a little bit more than friendship on his part, as well, or if he really only stayed because it was better than the car, and if he did all this for her out of pure friendliness.

"Ready to lay down?" Daryl asked smilingly when she let out a big yawn.

"Yes, looks like. It's late anyway and the alarm goes off at 4 am, as usual." She put her empty glass on the floor and turned back to her previous position and scooted down to lay on her side facing him. "You can keep sleeping tomorrow. You have the key, just lock up when you leave."

"Really? You sure? Ain't got a problem taking ya to work."

"I know, but you don't have to get up that early and I'm used walking, it actually helps me wake up a bit more. I'll set the alarm for seven before I leave, alright?"

"Yeah. Alright." Daryl smiled genuinely happy. _She really trusts me to be here alone...She ain't asking for the keys back. _That was big to someone who the general public believed to be not very trustworthy. Bay returned his smile and snuggled underneath the blanket. Her gaze landed on his right hand that was resting on his belly while he had his left hand tucked underneath his head. She reached out and gently dragged the tip of her index finger over the little star on his hand.

"I like that." she let the finger glide to the little heart on the inside of his wrist next. "And that one, too. It's cute. In a manly way of course." she added with a giggle.

"Of course!" he laughed. " Yeah, got them when I was shitfaced drunk... but they're okay I guess." he lifted his arm and looked at the devil on the inside of his upper arm.

"I like that one, too. Funny that an angel like you has a devil tattooed on his arm." she smiled, making him blush slightly.

"Ain't an angel, Bay."

"You are to me." she admitted while looking deeply into his eyes. The butterflies threatened to choke her, when she imagined that she had seen something smoldering in the depths of his blue orbs, so she quickly changed the topic. "I like all of your tattoos. They are all on the right side... there a reason for it?"

"Nah... and they ain't all on the right side. You ain't seen all of 'em yet." he grinned, delighted at her surprised expression.

"You have more?"

"Yeah. Okay, only got one on my left side, though. Snake on my thigh. See?" he lifted the blanket and the leg of his boxer shorts a little, showing off his small snake tattoo.

Bay softly put her hand on top of his thigh and let her thumb rub over the snake. "Cool. Didn't notice that before. Any more?"

"Yeah, a real big one." Daryl pressed out as he tried not to get goosebumps and/or a boner from her touch. "Got two big demons on my back. Right side. Ain't showing you though." he quickly added before she could ask.

"Okay." she was disappointed, but she tried not to let it show. She absently kept stroking the snake tattoo while she tried to think of a reason why he was showing her the other tattoos and not the one on his back.

Daryl was reaching his limit of what he was able to take. She was rubbing his snake. Sure it was just a tattoo, but the thought that she was rubbing his snake brought up a much less innocent image inside his head. "You still cold?"

"A little, yeah." Bay replied truthfully.

Daryl didn't know how he suddenly possessed the courage, must have been the wine, but he suddenly heard himself say: "Come here... I'll warm ya up a little." he was already tugging on the wrist of the hand that had been on his thigh, to pull her closer. Both their hearts started hammering in their chests as Bay slid closer and molded herself to his side. Her hand rested on his chest right above his heart, while her face was buried in the crook of his neck, inhaling his wonderful male scent. She had never smelled a man, this was her first 'taste' of that pure male essence that was so different from her own and it sparked longing inside of her. The feeling that she wanted more, much more and that she wanted him around 24/7 so she would be able to bury her nose into this very spot and let that scent wash over her. Without thinking she curled her leg around his and when she felt him tense noticeably, she apologized profusely and tried to move her leg.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking,... just habit, bec-" she didn't get to finish or to move, because a strong hand quickly grabbed her thigh and kept her leg in place.

"It's okay. I know this is how ya sleep. Stay." he murmured and hoped she was neither seeing nor feeling him blush. Her leg was just barely brushing the tip of his very happy dick. Yeah, that would definitely be a nice way to fall asleep.

"Thank you." she muttered against his skin, then she lifted her head and pressed her lips against his jawline. "Thank you for everything."

"Welcome." he swallowed around the lump that was forming in his throat. With her he knew it wasn't just words. He knew Bay appreciated what he did. Her joy had been overwhelming and it had been impossible to miss. She made him feel good. He had felt proud and like a man before, namely when he'd been on a successful hunt, but through her he felt confirmed. She made him feel that he was right to feel it and that's why he allowed himself to open up a little and show her those feelings. When her lips left his skin it was tingling and and sending little flutters through his body. He wished he would have the balls to kiss her, he'd been wanting to do that all evening (hell, all of the past couple of weeks if he was completely honest with himself), but brushing his lips across the top of her head was all he was able to manage. The fear of having her reject him was too big. He needed some definite sign that she wanted to be kissed by him first. He soon felt her breathing even out and her body becoming heavier as she relaxed fully. Daryl enjoyed having her in his arms like that and slowly and carefully he brought his hand and arm down from behind his head, tentatively putting it around her small shoulders and hugging her closer to his body. All this time he hadn't released her thigh from his grip and now that she was asleep, he dared to rub his thumb back and forth over the smooth skin. _The hell you doin' ta me, Bay? Got me all messed up... and I fucking like it. That's damn crazy if ya ask me._

* * *

The next morning when the alarm beeped loudly to announce the end to Bay's sleep, Daryl only groaned and lifted his arm from where it was slung around her midriff before he flopped on his belly. Bay giggled quietly, thanks to Daryl it was already a good morning. She quietly got ready for work and just before she left, she knelt down next to the bed and gently scratched his shoulder blade through his shirt. "Daryl?"

"Hm?" he grunted more asleep than awake.

"I packed you a lunch for work, please take it and eat it, yeah? Don't forget to lock up. Later." Because he was mostly out of it she had the courage to press a kiss against his biceps, then she pulled the blanket higher, because he felt a bit cold, and then she finally left. There was a little spring in her step that morning. It had been an awesome weekend and she couldn't wait for the next, because then Daryl would teach her how to shoot.

That week Daryl spent 3 out of 5 nights at Bay's, and those two nights he had spent at Patrick's had been more for appearances, even though he wasn't fooling anyone anymore. When he was on Pat's couch he barely slept, he kept tossing and turning and thinking about whether or not Bay would be able to sleep without him there. Every one of those nights he had stayed there, Bay had made them a late dinner, which they would eat, side by side and pressed together at her little breakfast bar. On the last night she casually added a small tea light candle to their set-up, making Daryl perceive it as even a little bit more romantic. As they grew more and more comfortable with each other, the accidental and/or casual touches also happened more frequently. Bodies brushing against each other, fingers skimming innocently over arms and backs, pushing some hair out of the others face, etc, etc,... Even at work when she took the guys' orders, she always gently put her hand on Daryl's shoulder while she left and he looked over his shoulder to watch her go. He loved that damn waitress uniform on her. Other boys and men were noticing her, too, and Daryl didn't like that one bit. He gave them the evil eye, but then again he was a little smug as well. _Yeah, you go ahead and look, but she's goin' home with __**me**__and she's makin' __**me**__dinner tonight. _He still had her keys and she wasn't giving him the impression that she wanted them back anytime soon. He was also aware how she referred to it as 'home', as in '**our** home' and not '**my** home'. It was different than his home at Pat's. Sure, he was glad that he always had a place to stay with his best friend, but in the end it was just two guys hanging out in a pretty bare apartment. Not that Bay's place was overly stuffed, but she still managed to make it a real and comfy, warm home. And everything smelled so good, like some exotic flower, just like her He loved coming back to the her apartment and he already hated when he 'had to' stay at Pat's, not yet realizing that it was completely futile for him to try to keep up appearances.

Friday morning Bay had promised Daryl to swing by the Wal Mart parking lot after work, to hang out a bit, have a beer and a smoke, to kick back and relax a little before they went home together. They had already discussed that Daryl would spend the night, so that they could have breakfast Saturday morning and then leave for one of the meadows outside of town to set up some targets in order for her to learn how to aim and shoot. Although Daryl had vowed to himself to always be around and make sure that she's safe, he figured that it still was a good and useful skill to have. No matter what, Bay was definitely looking forward to spending more quality time with Daryl, and so was he.

She was in cheerful spirits when her colleague Maria offered her a ride and dropped her off at the parking lot. She was immediately pulled into a big hug by Erin, who seemed like she had already consumed a bit of alcohol. "Yaaaay, Baaaay's here!" the girl giggled, making Bay laugh and gently grasp the other girl's face and looking into her eyes.

"Someone started the party without me, huh?"

"It's the heat. The alcohol is getting to me faster." Erin smiled and dragged Bay with her to Sam's truck to get her a beer. Bay let her eyes drift towards the others, inconspicuously trying to seek out Daryl. Her good mood got an instant icy cold shower when she spotted him. He was talking downright animatedly, while he was smiling big and casually touching a tall and very beautiful girl that was standing in front of him and Pat. Bay had never ever felt this kind of quick rage and anger inside of her. She wanted to claw the woman's eyes out and pull her stupid blonde hair out slowly and painfully one by one. The sadistic thoughts she was having startled her, but she was unable to stop them from happening.

"Who is that?" Bay asked and Erin looked at her in surprise, because she did not recognize Bay's voice for a moment. She had never before heard the other girl's voice take on a hint of bitchiness. She followed Bay's gaze and smirked slightly when she realized what Bay meant. It was now clear to Erin, that Bay was jealous, probably for the first time ever.

"Oh that's Cassie. She grew up with some of the boys. Moved away a couple of years ago, came back to visit family and guess she decided to pay the guys a visit." Erin explained, trying not to let it show how much of a kick she was getting out of seeing a very new side of Bay. "Why don't you go over there and say hi to Daryl?"

"Nah... seems like he's got his hands full." Bay shrugged moodily. "Besides... he wanted me to come tonight, so if he wants to hang, he can come over here. Not following him around like some love-sick little puppy."

_Oh wow, she's really got it bad._ Erin tried not to pour any more oil into the fire and refrained from saying anything else. She handed Bay a cigarette instead, just when Cassie suddenly made her way over to them.

"Oh a new face!" Cassie exclaimed happily when she saw Bay. "Hi, I'm Cassie."

Instead of greeting the woman properly and politely, Bay took a page out of Daryl's book and just nodded at her coolly with a blank expression. Cassie grabbed herself a beer while Bay dug her lighter out of her bag to light her cigarette. Cassie noticed and smiled while she pulled a cigarette out from behind her ear. "Can I borrow your light?" the older girl asked and held her hand out.

"No." Bay replied dryly and let the lighter drop back into her bag while looking at Cassie almost challengingly.

"Bay...!" Erin was stunned and handed Cassie her own lighter. While it had been cool to see a different side of Bay, she was absolutely not amused by Bay's rudeness. Cassie had just been talking to her old childhood friends and certainly didn't deserve Bay going major bitch on her. Cassie thanked Erin and lit her cigarette before she went back to Pat and Daryl. "Bay, good God, relax. She didn't do anything. What's gotten into you?"

"I don't know. Jesus Christ, what is wrong with me?" Bay suddenly felt horrified by her own behavior, but sadly not horrified enough to go over there and apologize. "Never thought I'd be the jealous kind..." she muttered in slight confusion.

"Love an do that to you." Erin laughed slightly. "But seriously, don't do that again unless she tries to climb him like a tree."

"You just had to say that..." Bay grumbled and took a big, long swig from her beer.

* * *

"What a bitch." Cassie mumbled as she arrived back at Daryl's car.

"Who? Erin?" Pat was surprised because the girls they hung out with were all pretty chill.

"No that other one. The waitress." Cassie replied, having forgotten what Erin had called the girl.

"Bay?" Both men looked at Cassie and then at Bay in surprise.

"What's your problem with Bay?" Patrick asked Cassie, while Daryl kept looking at Bay and studied her body language. It was certainly different than usual. She was pushing her back against the truck, creating more physical distance between herself and the thing she was unhappy with. One leg was bent, her foot resting against the tire, well, not quite resting, but tapping impatiently. Her arms were crossed defensively and she shrugged to what Erin was saying to her, not meeting her eyes. The lack of eye contact suggested that Bay was distancing herself from whatever issue they were dicussing. There was a tightness in her jaw and there was no smile on her face. Yeah, Bay was definitely not a happy camper.

"Pff, better question would be what her problem with me is. Fucking rude that girl."

"What you say to her?" Daryl looked at Cassie none too pleased. Bay was one of the sweetest people around, if she was this pissed and unhappy, Cassie must have been the one to say something to her.

"Nothing! What you looking at me like that for?" Cassie got defensive herself, while Patrick looked on in amusement.

"Forget it. I'm outta here." Daryl gave her a hard stare before he straightened and tried to catch Bay's gaze.

Patrick quickly leaned over and whispered in Cassie's ear: "Those two kinda have a thing. She's probably jealous and he's protective of her, cut them some slack. I guess they're gonna leave anyway."

"Doesn't excuse her being fucking rude." Cassie scoffed and watched Daryl trying to get Bay's attention. When she finally looked at him he motioned for her to come over. Bay came walking towards him, slowly and with that sullen expression on her face.

"Wanna go home?" Daryl asked quietly.

"Yeah." Bay muttered and walked around the truck to get in on the passenger side. Pat and Cassie moved away from the truck, but Cassie couldn't help but deliver a little non-verbal barb to Bay by hugging Daryl.

"It was so good to see you, Dare." she beamed at him, making Bay clench her fists so hard she swore she had broken the skin with her fingernails.

"Yeah, you too." Daryl mumbled and nodded at Pat. "See ya."

"You too, D. Later."

* * *

"What's wrong? Cas say anything to you?" Daryl asked when they were on their way home.

"No." Bay sighed deeply. "She didn't do anything. I was the bitch..." she admitted, not wanting to lie to Daryl.

"Why?" Daryl frowned at her, not being used to Bay being bitchy.

"Dunno..." she shrugged. She wanted to avoid lying, but she wouldn't tell him that she had been incredibly jealous just because he had talked to a pretty girl. "Had a weak moment I guess. Happens to everybody."

"Something happen at work after I left?"

"No."

"You ain't mad at me, are ya?" the whole thing puzzled him. He wasn't able to figure out what would have her in such a bad mood.

"No!" Bay looked at him with wide eyes. "Of course not! I'm not mad at you. I'm sorry, I just had a moment I'm not proud of. Let's leave it at that."

"But why? Just outta the blue?"

"Maybe,... yes. Can we just go home and forget about it? I'm sorry I ruined your night."

"Ya didn't... just don't get what happened."

"Nothing, it's like I said. Just a moment... girls get a little crazy sometimes. Let's just enjoy the rest of the night. I already prepared the deer roast for tonight." she smiled, hoping the promise of the homemade food would make them both forget about that weird moment back in the parking lot.

"Now you're talking." he grinned. He had been looking forward to this meal all week. Because he ate a lot at her place they had thrown their money for food into one pot that week and had bought some more things that would help make good meals out of the stuff he had gotten for them. Tonight for a 'end of the week'-feast Bay had promised him a nice venison roast with carrots, potatoes and onions, and his mouth watered just thinking about it. He had been surprised just how good of a cook Bay was. He'd told her she should work in the kitchen at Shoney's instead of being a waitress and that it would certainly improve the restaurants quality. Bay didn't like taking credit for it the tasty meals, she said she was sticking to her grandmother's old cookbook to the T, and that's what made the food good, so the credit should go to her grandma. It would still be another three hours until they would eat, which is why Daryl had had a burger earlier, but that was okay, nobody was rushing them and they would be able to sleep in the next morning before they left. While the roast was cooking in the oven, they both changed into their sweats. When Bay came out of the bathroom she walked straight into an unsuspecting Daryl's arms and gave him a hug.

"I'm sorry." she mumbled against his chest and gently let her fingers scratch over both his shoulder blades in an affectionate, yet playful gesture.

"It's all good, Bay." he smiled and shuddered slightly at the pleasant goosebumps she was evoking. "It's over and done. Wanna watch some TV on the couch?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Alright, come on." Daryl gently touched her arm and pulled her with him to the sofa. Before she had the chance to settle in he pulled her feet into his lap, knowing they hurt after having walked around the store and the restaurant all day.

"Oh God..." Bay moaned quietly and her eyes fell shut when he massaged her feet for the fourth time that week. "You're way too good to me."

"Nonsense. Ya been on yer feet all day servin' people. Just fair that one of 'em gave back." Daryl peeked up at her with a shy smile.

"So at home you're serving me from now on? My humble servant?" she giggled with amusement.

"Okay, I wouldn't go that far..." he laughed quietly. "But it should be a give and take, right? And ya kinda give all the time. Someone should give ya back some."

"But what about you? You give all the time as well. You give me food, you give me safety, you give me fun, you give me companionship, joy... massages and warmth... nightmare-less nights... The list is long,... what do I give you? Is it enough?" Bay was curious to find out if he was happy with the things she gave back in return. When she thought about how much he was doing for her, she felt like she wasn't giving back enough.

"It is." Daryl nodded reassuringly. "Ya give me everything I give you,too." _And ya give me a home and ya make me feel like a man._

"Liar." Bay laughed.

"What?" Daryl looked at her in surprise. "Ain't lyin', Bay."

"You protect me, not the other way around. You give me safety and not the other way around. I give you freezer burn, not warmth..." Bay explained smilingly.

_Wrong. _He realized in that moment, that she was giving him both of those things, just in a different way than he was giving wasn't ready to admit that out loud, though.

"Tell ya what, I wouldn't mind some freezer burn tonight. Fucking hot today. Sweatin' my ass off." Daryl successfully changed the topic before it got too intense.

"I know, and the heat from the oven isn't helping." Bay sighed and looked him over. Indeed, there was a fine sheen of sweat covering his arms. "You know,... you can take your shirt off, I don't mind. If it would be okay for girls to go topless I probably would." she giggled nervously. If he really would take it off, it would be hard not to stare.

_I'd fucking support that decision._ Daryl smirked on the inside, but he knew enough not to say it out loud. But take his own shirt off? He hesitated and mulled it over while he chewed on his bottom lip. It was true, he did feel safe in here and around her,... he knew that if there was anyone who wouldn't judge the way his back looked, it was Bay. He cleared his throat and looked back up at her. "I'mma take it off... " he mumbled and Bay was surprised to detect a hint of nervousness in his voice. "But I ain't gonna talk about it, so don't bother asking in the first place, alright?"

_What?_ Bay was puzzled, but she glossed it over with a smile. She needed to distract herself anyway if she wanted to keep herself from staring. "Alright. I'm gonna check on the roast real quick." As she left for the kitchen, Daryl pulled of his black sleeveless t-shirt and tossed it on the floor next to the couch. When Bay came back to the sofa she had the hardest time to act all casual and nonchalant about Daryl's nude upper body.

_Oh sweet Lord, he is so good looking. _Daryl was lean and slim, but not skinny. He had meat, muscles and body fat in all the right places. His chest, from what she was able to see, was smooth and pretty hairless and she wondered if he would let her fall asleep in his arms with her hand over his heart, when he was shirtless.

They sat there in companionable silence for almost an hour, before Daryl had to pee. The moment of truth had arrived and he hesitated for a moment, before he decided he was gonna bare it all to her instead of just pulling the shirt back on. Daryl got up and walked to the bathroom, his muscles tense as he waited for a reaction. Bay looked up when he got up and she immediately realized what in the world she wasn't supposed to ask about. Her eyes widened and she quickly counted 9 long and thick scars on his back and he quickly took in his tattoo before she averted her eyes and admonished herself not to stare. She had so many questions, but she had promised not to ask and so she wouldn't. Last week he had told her that he wouldn't show her the tattoo on his back, but now he obviously felt like he could trust her with it. She saw it as her job now to make him as comfortable with this new situation as possible. She didn't want him to be ashamed for anything in front of her. She loved him just the way she was.

_Whoa! __**LOVE?**_ She had surprised herself with that one. That word had slipped into her mind so casually that she had almost missed it, had it not been for the way the air had rushed out of her lungs almost subconsciously. She had a crush on him, sure, she was able to admit that, but did he really love him? Like a woman should love a man? She didn't know if that was what she really felt, because she had never experienced it before, but apparently her feelings for him have become a bit stronger in the past week or two. No surprise there, really. He had turned out to be an absolutely amazing human being. She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down and she also tried not to brood too much about whether or not things had gotten extremely serious for her. She was scared of love. It had destroyed her family. Her mother had started doing drugs because she hadn't been able to deal with the death of her husband, following in his exact footsteps and neglecting her daughter in the process, and her grandmother had died of a broken heart, because she had lost her only son and hadn't been able to save him and guide him back to the right path. Bay felt tears well up in her eyes and she quickly shook off the dark thoughts and took another cleansing breath. The bathroom door opened, distracting her effectively and she shot Daryl a quick smile when he looked at her, eyes full of insecurity. She looked back to the TV right away, not paying attention to him while he walked back and plopped back down next to her, with his thigh touching her feet, as she was sitting sideways and had her knees pulled up slightly. His hand instinctively went to her cold feet, marveling at the fact that they were still cold in this heat, and gently rubbed some warmth into them.

Bay smiled, but never took her eyes off the TV when she spoke up. "I told you I liked all your tattoos, right? Now we know for sure."

Daryl exhaled deeply with relief. His lips formed a small smile and he squeezed her right foot in silent gratitude that she was not making a fuss about his scars. It was a sign that he could trust her with just about anything.

When their food was done Daryl stuffed himself with the heavenly meal until he was barely able to walk back to the couch. "I ain't gonna be able to eat for three days, I swear." he moaned as a slight wave of feeling sick passed over him. "It was so damn good... Shit I can't move..."

"Just sleep. It will be better in the morning." Bay smiled and gently stroked the inside of his forearm with her fingertips. She didn't snuggle up to him, because she wasn't sure if he would want that. Daryl soon grabbed the hand that was caressing his arm, though and pulled her towards him.

"Don't touch ma belly." he murmured already half-asleep.

"I promise." Bay giggled and carefully pressed herself to his side. Her hand went to its spot on his chest and her fingertips softly rubbed back and forth over the warm skin, trying to ignore the temptation to explore his hard nipple that was poking her palm. Thankfully she didn't have to fight that temptation for very long, because it was 3 am already and she had been up for almost 24 hours. Very soon she drifted into a peaceful sleep with the feel of Daryl's skin underneath her fingers and his perfect, male scent filling her nostrils.

* * *

Shooting practice had been fun. Bay knew she probably shouldn't say that shooting was fun, but it really was. Daryl was a great teacher and having him pressed up against her back with his arms around her and correcting her stance and her aim hadn't been too shabby either. In a strange way she had found herself enjoying him giving her instructions, and she had been an eager student. She'd done a joyful little happy dance every time she had hit a bottle or a can he had put on top of some fence posts, and Daryl had smiled proudly at her whenever she had taken his advice to heart and had nailed her shot because of it. They kept at it for about two hours, then Bay ran back to the truck and got the blanket and the basket she had brought. They had slept until noon and had skipped a big breakfast, so they wouldn't get out here too late, so she had prepared a picnic for them to eat out here. She spread out the blanket on the soft green grass and laid out the food, before she sat down close to Daryl. Like at home their bodies were touching with every movement either of them made. They unconsciously sought each other out and the phrase 'attached at the hip' was definitely the right one to describe the two of them.

Daryl's stomach had settled and even though he had been convinced that he wouldn't be able to even look at food for a couple of days, he was now devouring his sandwich with gusto. Bay had cut the leftover venison roast into thin slices and had used them to make divine sandwiches. He moaned appreciatively with almost every bite, making Bay burst with pride at being able to provide tasty treats for him. When they were done eating Daryl leaned back on his hands and relaxed while Bay scooted closer and pulled her knees up to her chest while she leaned against him, letting her head rest against his wide shoulder. Bay took in their surroundings, the lush green grass and the yellow and purple flowers all around them. They looked like they were stretching all the way to the horizon from where they sat. The afternoon sun tinted everything golden and it was wonderfully peaceful and quiet, except for the birds singing their songs.

"It's so beautiful out here." Bay smiled quietly and snuggled her head further into the crook of his neck. Daryl turned his head slightly and pressed his mouth into her hair at the top of her head.

"It is." he agreed quietly.

"I know we came here for shooting practice, and it was really fun, but this is even better." It was so serene that she really felt an unfamiliar sense of calm wash over her. She turned her face up and pressed her lips against his jaw. "Thank you for taking me here." she murmured before she lifted her eyes up to his, her breath hitched, when she realized how close they were.

"You like?" Daryl seemed to be a bit short of breath as well as he looked into her large hazel eyes, as their noses touched slightly.

"I love it." Bay muttered under her breath and nodded, causing the tip of their noses to softly rub against one another. She felt dizzy as she felt the air between them change again and she felt it crackle and sizzle, making goosebumps break out all over her body. Her gaze dropped to those luscious lips of his and she felt the sheer overwhelming urge to kiss him. Slowly, before she realized what she was doing, she craned her head up and her heartbeat accelerated, letting her hear and feel it thump in her ears when she felt his hot breath against her lips.

Daryl's eyes widened when he realized what she was doing and his breath came out in quick gasps. That feeling of falling was back, stronger than ever and his chest tightened in a weirdly exciting way. For a split-second he felt like he was on a rollercoaster and was rushing down from the highest point, his stomach feeling like it was dropping so hard that it might leave a hole in the ground. And suddenly, it all stopped. He felt Bay's soft lips pressing against his own and the feeling anchored him, stopping all those weird falling sensations and replacing them with a rush of warmth and happiness so big that it could be described as euphoria. It took him a little moment to come out of his state of shock and respond, but when he did, he brought his hand up and softly touched her cheek with two fingers as his lips parted slightly and gently caught her bottom lip between them, in a soft, long kiss. He could feel Bay trembling slightly and he wasn't doing much better. Kissing her felt incredible. Every nerve ending was alive and electrified as endorphins rushed through their bodies, the happiness they felt was giving them some kind of high, making their lips pull apart slightly as they both smiled into the kiss. They were both left absolutely breathless and Bay knew they would have to pull apart completely in a moment, but before that had to happen, she put her hand on his cheek and pressed her lips against his more firmly for a couple of seconds, then she broke the kiss and looked back up into his eyes with flushed cheeks.

Daryl's face was equally red as he looked at her. It was that awkward moment after you shared your first kiss and didn't know how to act or what to say right after. They both burst into an embarrassed laugh a moment later and he watched Bay nibbling on her thumb, letting out another giggle and smile shyly around it as she leaned back against him and pressed her heated face back into the crook of his neck. Daryl grinned and nuzzled her hair while he wrapped an arm around her to pull her closer. _I'll be damned... This really happen? She likes me back? Damn, man... I'm such a fucking goner..._

They both sat and cuddled in silence and watched the sun set at the horizon, processing what just happened and thinking about what might happen from now on. On the outside they appeared calm, but on the inside both of them were all fluttery with excitement and giddiness, and they were both fucking incredibly happy.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**I haven't said it in a long time, but: PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! I'm curious. What did you think about Daryl's and Bay's first kiss? Are you excited about the many more to come? I know I am, lol.**

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**Thank you:**

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**mamareadstomuch2**


	12. Chapter 13

**Chapter 12**

"We should get going." Bay turned her head up and smiled at Daryl when the sun had set and dusk started to come on.

"Why? Afraid of what might be crawling around here in the dark?" he teased her gently, and was surprised when she stiffened and looked at him with wide eyes.

"Daryl... Please tell me that doesn't mean that a spider is crawling all over me right now."

"You scared of 'em?"

"Yes. Incredibly! I am horribly afraid of and grossed out by the 'Three S'."

"Three S?"

"Spiders, Snakes and Ships." she explained and made Daryl laugh out loud.

"SHIPS? The fuck, Bay? How are ya grossed out by a damn ship?"

"I don't like ships or boats or whatever ya wanna call them. My stomach turns just looking at them. Been on one once, it was the worst. Threw up over the rail the whole time. Just think of the many ways you could die by being on a ship in case that it sinks! Ever seen a Titanic movie? Those aren't romantic, those are damn horror flicks to me."

Daryl chuckled quietly while she gave her dead serious explanation. "You're cute." he smiled and blushed slightly, but he felt like he'd done good when he saw a huge smile form on her lips. He bit his bottom lip and peeked up at her with a shy smile, before he cleared his throat. "Alright, no spiders, snakes or ships, then. But I reckon we really should go, cause two of those things might be around."

Bay jumped up faster than he could blink, making him chuckle once more as he helped her pack their things and fold up the blanket. As they made their way to the truck, he felt Bay's hand slip hesitantly into his. Daryl interlocked their fingers and squeezed once, reassuring her that this was okay and that he wanted it, too. Bay grinned happily, but lowered her head and looked at the ground, so it wouldn't be too obvious, although Daryl was not doing any better. He'd never before felt his face hurt from trying to contain his big smile, it was definitely all new and exciting.

"Are you staying tonight?" Bay asked when they were on the road.

"Umm,... yeah... if that's okay?"

"Of course that's okay." she smiled, but Daryl was frowning slightly as he watched the road. Bay felt that he wanted to say something. He opened his mouth a couple of times, but hesitated and kept thinking some more, before he finally spit it out.

"I ain't expectin' nothin'... just so you know... Don't want ya to be scared or nervous when ya sleep next ta me from now on... 'kay?"

"Okay. And just so **you **know,... I trust you. I'd never be scared of you."

Her words brought a proud smile to his lips. He had figured that she trusted him since he still had the keys to her place, but hearing her say it out loud felt damn awesome. "Good!" he said and hoped that he would never ever do something to break that trust she had in him.

They soon arrived back home and had a bit of an awkward moment when they didn't quite know what to do now. Both were suddenly back to being shy around one another. It was silly, because both wanted to repeat that kiss badly, but neither dared to initiate it or even get too close to the other at that moment. "Ummm... you hungry?" Bay asked and fidgeted with her hands while standing in the middle of the living room and looking around nervously.

"Nah... just ate..." Daryl was chewing on the inside of his cheek and looking around as well. His eyes landed on the TV-set and the sofa-bed. _Yeah, maybe some TV will be good_. "Wanna watch some TV? Just... hang out? Relax?"

"That's a good idea. I'll get us some water." Bay went into the kitchen while Daryl took his sneakers off and crawled into his corner of the sofa. Bay soon followed, but before she did, she also changed out of her jeans and into a pair of shorts to be more comfortable. "I should get something to use as bedside tables." she giggled as she handed him his glass of water. Right now there was nowhere to put them other than the floor, and sometimes they ended up getting knocked over.

"I could build some." Daryl offered. "Always got leftover material at work. Guess I could make something outta that stuff."

"Yeah, that would be nice. But only if it won't get you in trouble."

"I'll ask the boss on Monday."

"Cool." Bay smiled and sighed quietly. _Why is this weird again? _She found her answer quickly. _Because we let it get weird every time. _She was a bit jittery about it, but if one of them wouldn't make the first step, they'd never get anywhere. Daryl had kissed her back, so he obviously wanted this as well. She put her glass on the floor and scooted closer to him. "I'm cold." she stated, even though it wasn't true. It was June in Georgia after all.

"No ya ain't." Daryl smirked teasingly, happy that she was the one to make the first move once again.

"Hey, that's not nice!" she giggled and poked his ribs, giggling even more when he jerked and tried to ward off her hands. "Oooohhh is someone a little ticklish?"

"No I ain't. Ya just surprised me." He laughed and grabbed her wrists to keep her from poking him again.

"Riiiiight. Okay, guess we can admit that we both lied just now. I'm not cold and you are definitely ticklish." Bay laughed and took a deep breath to gather some courage. "So let's try again... I would like to be held by you..." _Jesus Christ, Bayanne! Could you be more formal? Why not write him a letter on fancy stationary? Just hug him you stupid girl! _She blushed and hid her face behind her hands and laughed. "Oh God... I'm sorry, that sounded horrible."

Daryl finally had mercy on her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder to pull her closer. "Nah,... took guts... You're braver than me where that shit's concerned." he admitted shyly. It was true. He had a much harder time than her to put himself out there. If she wouldn't have made a move just now, they might have ended up watching TV whilst sitting in their respective corners all night long. If it hadn't been for her bravery, they never might have kissed in the first place. Which brought him back to the present. Bay was nuzzling his jaw softly and Daryl's heart started beating much faster in anticipation of what was to come. Daryl turned his face towards her and lowered his head, while she craned hers up again. Their lips brushed gently and this time it was Bay who caught his bottom lip between hers. Daryl made an almost inaudible sound in the back of his throat and Bay felt it more than she heard it, because her fingers were resting on the side of his neck. It gave her a little rush and she started pressing her lips against his more firmly. They exchanged several open-mouthed kisses, both growing more confident with each press of lips against lips. Bay soon felt the tip of Daryl's tongue prodding her lips and it made her shiver and loose every bit of oxygen that had been in her lungs. Bay parted her lips as the pull of arousal made her insides flutter, and it got even worse, when his hand slid to the back of her neck and up into her hair, holding her in place almost possessively. He angled his head and let his tongue slip into her mouth, releasing yet another little sound when it touched hers. They both shivered as their tongues started to glide and swirl and explore, and Bay found out that an actual kiss aroused her a good ton more, than the fantasy of it had. She was very glad that she wasn't a boy and that he wasn't able to tell how excited his kisses had her. She gladly let herself fall into all these new sensations. _Oh good Lord, this feels so incredibly good. I wanna do this all night. Oh God... _Those were the last coherent thoughts she had, before she turned off her head and just let herself feel and enjoy.

Before she knew it, Daryl was slowly pulling her to straddle his lap. She went with pleasure and wrapped her arms around his neck, never once breaking the kiss while she got comfortable on top of him and buried one hand into his soft hair. Daryl was in heaven. Nothing had ever felt as good as kissing Bay. Still, he was careful not to let himself go too much. His dick was a little bit hardened already and he wanted to keep it from growing to full length and girth. He was glad that he wasn't a pubertal teenager anymore and that he was able to control himself and his dick at least a little. Even though she had already felt his erection before, he was still nervous about potentially scaring her off or making her nervous by getting wood this soon into kissing. He was surprised that his dick already responded to this, even though they kept it pretty tame. It was intense, but not heated. Their kisses were deep and gentle, sometimes playful and explorative, but there was not yet a real sexual component to it. Bay's initial feelings of arousal had ebbed off a little, too, and she simply enjoyed kissing him and all those positive feelings that came with it. They were just two young people who were falling in love and getting to know each other better on a physical level, and innocently so. Daryl was soon able to relax and enjoy it more as well and they both lost track of time while they were locked in their tight embrace. Bay pulled away with a giggle, when she heard Daryl's stomach growl and gently tickled his belly.

"Someone's hungry." she smiled as Daryl blushed a little.

"Fucking embarrassing. Just fucking ate." Daryl mumbled and hated his traitorous stomach for interrupting them.

"Actually it has been a couple of hours. I could eat, too." Bay smiled and raised her arms above her head to stretch her back and arms out a little. Her top rode up, revealing the soft skin of her midriff and drawing Daryl's attention. He couldn't help it, he immediately imagined kissing and licking all around her belly button and going lower and lower and lick along the waistband of those sleep shorts. He felt the heat build in his lower abdomen and quickly tore his gaze away from the tempting view, so he wouldn't pitch a tent right then and there. He didn't want to test his luck and find out exactly how cool or not she was about certain things. _The girl's a damn virgin. She sure don't wanna feel ya get horny as fuck just from looking at her belly. Get a grip on yourself, boy._

"What would you like? I didn't defrost any meat. How about breakfast for dinner? Or pasta?"

"No damn noodles, Bay. Breakfast sounds good, since we skipped it and all."

"Yeah, right? What do we want? Eggs?"

"Yeah. Got bacon left?"

"We do, yeah. Pancakes or waffles? Uh, since we got apples left, how about apple-cinnamon pancakes?"

_I might just love that damn girl._ Daryl thought with amusement, because those pancakes sounded damn good. She was seriously going to make him fat with all those delicious meals she whipped up. Her grandma must have been some kind of 5 star chef. "Yeah, I like that." Daryl replied enthusiastically and finally loosened his embrace and let go of her so she could get started in the kitchen.

Daryl watched her from the bed and felt silly for already missing her, even though she was right there. He fell back into the nervous habit of chewing on his lip while he pondered whether or not it would be okay to do what he'd imagined himself doing a couple of times now, which would be to walk up to her and hold her from behind and tease her a little by kissing her neck. _She made the first move twice now, you coward. If she can be brave, you can at least try. She made out with ya, so she wants this. She makes ya feel like a man, so act like one. You wanna be a real man for her and take care of her in every fucking way, so grow some balls here._ Daryl slowly scooted to the edge of the sofa and got up. He went to the bathroom first to relieve himself and splash some cold water in his face, before he slowly walked up to her. Tentatively he placed his hands on either side of her waist and slightly pulled her back against him.

"Hi." Bay smiled quietly while she made pancake batter from scratch. "Decided to keep me company?"

"Yeah. That okay?"

"Very!" she looked up at him with a big grin and pressed a kiss against his cheek before she focused back on the task at hand. Daryl took a moment to get comfortable, then he snaked his arms around her to hold her tighter. Bay smiled, while she worked. She was happy that he was making a move this time. It was silly, because he had obviously kissed her back, but this showed her, that he was really into this as well. Suddenly she felt Daryl's warm, soft lips pressing against her neck. _Uuhh, that's nice. _She smiled to herself and closed her eyes in bliss for a moment. Daryl got braver when he felt her lean into his touch, and Bay inhaled sharply and almost dropped the whisk in shock, when she felt Daryl's hot, wet tongue lick a path from the junction of her shoulder, up to a spot right underneath her ear and ended his journey with a little suck.

"Holy mother of God!" she breathed as her body trembled lightly and her skin turned into gooseflesh. Daryl couldn't deny that her response excited him a lot. _Just from this, baby girl? Shit,... makes me wonder how you'll react when we really get into some stuff I wanna do with ya._ And just like that a ton of naughty images flashed through his brain of all the things he wanted to try with her, if she'd let him. He was just about to imagine what she would sound like during orgasm, when he realized that she was still firmly pressed against him and that it would be a bad idea to think about this any further in that moment. Neither was licking and sucking on her neck, but her response had awoken his primal urges and he found himself unable to stop, especially with her obviously liking it. He'd been wanting to suck his mark into her for a while now and he wouldn't give up his chance to finally do it. The thought that it might be a tad bit too soon didn't occur to him in that moment.

_Oh shit! Oh God! _Daryl had bit her neck gently and was now latching on and sucking on the sensitive skin on her neck, and Bay felt the apartment start to spin. It felt so incredibly good, but it also brought back that sharp pull in her abdomen and this time she felt her nipples harden almost painfully. It scared her that he was able to do this to her this quickly and she felt a bit overwhelmed. This was new to her after all. She had kissed a boy before, but nobody had ever done something like this. She'd had no idea it would cause such strong reactions inside of her. However, she didn't want to push him away and hurt him or make him shy again, so she gently put her hand on his cheek and slowly disentangled from his embrace. "I need the eggs... Daryl, stop..."

"Mmm." he grunted and gave one last suck before he pressed a kiss to the now darkened skin and released her with a little smirk full of male pride. Bay walked over to the fridge and took a deep breath when the cool air hit her and helped her cool down and clear her head a little. _It's just new and I have to get used to it. It's all good. It was really really good and I __**do**__ want more of that. Just gotta keep my cool and get freaking used to it. _

No matter how proud he was of seeing the hickey on her neck, he still noticed quickly that Bay was suddenly a bit fidgety. _Shit... that was too much... I'm a goddamn idiot. _"Sorry..." he mumbled with a deep and disappointed sigh.

"No! Don't apologize!" Bay whirled around so suddenly, that he startled for a moment. "I'm just being weird, it's not you, I promise. I just... uh... it's very new... I've never ummm... nobody ever did that before... It was just a little overwhelming, but not in a bad way. It just made me nervous,... That sounds bad, I'm sorry." Bay fell silent for a moment while she tried to find the right words. "Okay, cards on the table? I'm going to be nervous a lot, I imagine,... in case this works out and we get to know each other better in that way, I mean. If you don't want that, that's cool, I just want us to stay friends in that case, because I love having you in my life... What I'm saying is... I might be nervous a lot, but that doesn't mean that I don't want it... whatever is going to happen. If I don't want something I will tell you without hesitation, I think you know that by now..."

"Ain't sure what yer sayin', Bay..." Daryl had no idea what to make of it. Was he allowed to kiss on her or was he supposed to wait until she made a move to show him what she wanted?

"I know, I'm not saying it right. I'm rambling... Okay, listen... I don't want you to walk on egg shells around me. I'm doing all of this for the first time and I have to learn... a lot... so yeah, I'll be nervous, but like I said, that doesn't mean that I don't want it. You don't have to be super careful with me, I don't even want that. I liked what you did just now, very much so... I have to get used to it,... that I like it, I mean. Does that make sense?"

"Not really." Daryl was chewing on his thumbnail by now. He was curious, but also a bit uncomfortable with the conversation.

Bay sighed deeply in defeat. It was frustrating not being able to express what she was feeling on the inside. She understood that it wasn't making any sense to Daryl who surely had a ton of experience. Frankly she wanted him to give her hickeys and much more and that was exactly, what freaked her out. Daryl had some kind of power over her in a lot of ways and one of those ways was the sexual one. He turned her on, it was as simple as that, and she had trouble believing that her reactions to him were normal, especially the quick rate at which he was able to make her want more. She definitely needed some girl talk. _I should really consider getting a phone._

"Bay? You okay?" Daryl asked after a couple of minutes when she still hadn't said anything.

"Yeah. Just forget it. It's alright." she smiled and leaned up on her toes to press a gentle kiss to his lips. "Everything's good."

"Sure?"

"Yes. I just... I don't know,... gotta get my thoughts in order I guess." she started pouring the batter on the griddle and smiled to herself when Daryl carefully wrapped his arms around her again.

"This okay then?"

"Yes it is. The other thing was okay, too."

"Yeah?"

"Yes. Really." She put her hand on his wrist and gave him a gentle squeeze to reassure him, then she decided to change the topic to get rid of the slightly awkward mood. "Wanna come to church with me tomorrow morning?"

"Pfffff... nah, thanks." Daryl scoffed, but Bay wasn't offended. She knew that it wasn't for everybody. "Why you goin' anyway? Thought ya didn't have yer faith no more?"

"Things change. I just wanna go and say thanks."

"Say thanks? For what? For all the crap that happened to you?"

"No. I want to say thanks for having you in my life." Bay smiled when her reply shut him up quickly. Pride swept through him and he grinned silently against her neck and kissed the mark he'd made.

"Maybe I'll swing by Pat's while you're gone. Get some clothes... " he trailed off, waiting for her to tell him if she was okay with him staying a couple of more nights.

"Good idea. I'll drop by Erin's after church. Or do you think she is with Sam over the weekend?"

"Sure she is. I'm here with you,... she's with him..." he didn't quite know himself why he put it like that, but it might have had something to do with his thoughts about what exactly they would be from now on. _Am I her boyfriend now? She officially my girl?_

Bay obviously wasn't so sure about the answer herself. "Soooo,... we're like them?"

"Dunno. Are we?" Daryl started drumming his fingers on her belly.

"I don't like anyone else."

"Me neither." Daryl admitted quietly, but his nervousness was still very apparent by the way he was fidgeting.

"So I guess that means... umm... if we only like each other... and we do... stuff... That's like a... couple... right?" Bay felt awkward putting a name tag on it, but she wanted to know just like Daryl did.

"Yeah." Daryl finally started breathing again and was relieved that seemed to want the same thing he did. "Sounds right. Bay?"

"Yeah?"

"You forgot the apples." he laughed as he pointed at the pancakes.

"Shit! You distracted me."

"Next time then." Daryl chuckled and gently kissed her neck again. _She's too fucking cute._

* * *

After they ate, Bay took a quick shower before she snuggled back into Daryl's arms. He buried his nose in her damp hair and inhaled deeply. She smelled so damn good, it was driving him nuts. Before they knew it, they were back to kissing. It was dark, only the light of the TV illuminated the room in a whitish-blue glow. They had turned off the sound and the only noises that were heard in the room were those of heavy breathing, the wet smacking sound of their kissing and the rustling of sheets and blankets as their tongues swirled and their hands started roaming a little. Well, Daryl's hands... Bay's hands were frozen in place on his neck, she didn't dare letting her hands glide along his body. Daryl didn't even notice, he was totally into what they were doing. In between kisses he would kiss and nibble along her jaw and down her neck before he returned to her lips and thrust his tongue into her mouth to tangle with hers. They were in their sleeping position, with Bay molded to his side and her leg curled over his. He was rubbing her thigh with his strong hand, gently at first, but the pressure he used turned firmer the more intense their kissing got. Eventually he gripped her leg and pulled her on top of him again to gain better access to her neck. While they made out his hands stroked up and down her back and over her arms. Sometimes he buried them in her hair and held her to him while he plundered the depths of her mouth and dominated the kiss. Bay was putty in his hands, she loved everything he was doing and she sure didn't mind when his warm, slightly calloused hands slowly traced up the back of her thighs, causing a pleasant fire to ignite and course through her veins at his touch. And when he tentatively cupped her ass in his big hands, she instinctively pushed herself against him to show him that it was okay. Daryl gave her butt a nice squeeze, making himself groan quietly, when he pulled her closer, and it made her giggle a little. More out of nervousness than anything else. She loved what was going on, but she was definitely out of her element.

"Daryl?" she asked under her breath after what seemed like a little eternity of making out. "What you did... the hickey... Can I do that to you? I wanna try."

_Fuck me, hell yeah! _"Sure." he answered coolly, not letting on how excited it had him. He had accepted that trying to keep an erection from happening wouldn't work during this kissing session, he was already at half-mast and having her suck on his neck would get the rest of the job done. Good thing that she wasn't sitting right on top of it, but a bit above. She wouldn't notice right away, if at all. Bay was nervous, she didn't want to make a fool of herself in front of Daryl by doing it wrong, so she very hesitantly kissed along his jaw and up to his ear. She didn't quite know if it was the right move, but she carefully caught the lobe between her teeth and tugged ever so lightly. Daryl groaned quietly and dug his fingers harder into her butt cheeks in response. Bay shivered. Getting a response like that felt absolutely awesome and it boosted her confidence a little. She pressed little kisses to the side of his neck next, until she found a nice spot.

_Alright, here goes nothing._ Bay remembered what he'd done to her and copied him. She slowly let her tongue lick and circle on his skin, surprised that doing so aroused **her**. She closed her lips around the wet spot she had left and started sucking. She remembered what Erin had said about guys preferring rougher touches and so she sucked harder than he had sucked on her. His response was empowering. He gripped her and pulled her against him once more, while he also bucked his hips up. He hissed in pleasure and tilted his head to the side to give her more access. He never wanted her to stop and having her suck on his neck also brought up images of her doing the sucking in another place. His cock was fully hard within seconds and he pumped his hips up into the air, instinctively looking to get some friction to ease the throbbing in his loins.

_Feels damn fucking good _he thought and removed one hand from her ass to bury it in her hair again. "Harder." he growled quietly and immediately released another groan when she increased suction. His growled instruction had Bay trembling and she had to pull away to catch her breath. She looked down at her masterpiece in the light of the TV and loved that he now had a mark as well. It looked damn good on him. "My turn." Daryl murmured before he grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her down to his lips again for a deep kiss. Ten minutes later Bay had her second hickey and another ten minutes later, Daryl had his second one. They kept going and going for hours, just enjoying being close and giving each other love bites. Bay eventually fell asleep first and when Daryl was completely sure that she was out of it, he sneaked off into the bathroom to take care of his painfully hard erection, knowing that it surely wouldn't be the last time he would have to do it.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Sorry for the unusually long wait. As some of you know I had to help out at my son's daycare group and it killed me, lol. Thank you so much for all the support, kind words, follows, favorites, reviews and your general awesomeness. Love you all. I'm sorry if this chapter is a bit slow, I am still working on getting my mojo back. I'm sure the next chapter will be less "filler-y".**

**Til next time!**


	13. Chapter 13b

**Chapter 13**

"Good morning." Bay smiled quietly and gently pushed some hair out of Daryl's eyes as he started to stir.

Daryl didn't reply right away. His eyes opened to little slits, squinting against the morning light that was blinding him a little. When he saw the smiling, make-up free and still a bit puffy from sleep looking face of **his** girl, a little smile broke out on his lips and his hand reached out to gently grip the back of her neck. "C'mere." he pulled her to his lips, immediately picking back up where they had left off the night before. He sucked on Bay's full bottom lip before he slid his tongue inside her mouth, languidly letting it glide along hers. "Mmmmmm... mornin'..." he rasped under his breath between kisses as he rolled her onto her back and laid on his side, his torso hovering over hers as he claimed her lips again and again.

_Oh wow, he is killing me. He is such a good kisser! _That she knew for sure, she had kissed two boys at parties before, after all. Neither of those two had kissed even remotely as passionately and lovingly as Daryl. But it wasn't simply passionate or loving, there were many more facets to his kisses. They were also playful and enticing, hot and electrifying, and deep and toe-curlingly intense. He had her head spinning more often than not. Not to mention what it did to her to feel his tongue slide across her skin and to have him suck on her neck. She never wanted him to stop, but they still had lives to live, and she had to seek out Erin and get some more answers and advice. She hoped she would find her at her parents' house after all. She wouldn't be able to ask all these questions she had in front of Sam. Not without dying from having all the blood in her body rush to her head. Death by blushing... yeah, that would definitely happen if Erin's boyfriend would be present during the little naughty-themed Q&amp;A.

"I need to get ready for church." Bay pulled back a little by pressing her head further into her pillow, and gently took hold of his face to keep him from kissing her again.

"Five more minutes." he nuzzled her nose and pressed a little kiss to the tip of it. His gorgeous blue eyes were twinkling mischievously and Bay knew, that it wouldn't be **just** five more minutes. However, she found herself agreeing anyway.

"Okay. Five minutes." she pulled his face down and kissed him while a little giggle escaped her. "Should I set the timer?"

"Nah,... I'll count down in my head." Daryl grinned, making Bay laugh.

"If you actually manage to do that, you're good. I can't even remember my name when you kiss me." she admitted it freely, but as soon as the words had left her mouth, she blushed a little, because she hadn't really meant to say that out loud.

Daryl grinned in response, but chose not to comment on her words. Not out loud at least. _Maybe I can make ya forget about church, too. _He bowed his head back down and coaxed her mouth open, by teasing the tip of his tongue along the seam of her lips. _Ma good little baby girl... Don't worry, kissing ya drives me fucking nuts, as well. _

Five minutes turned into twenty minutes and soon Bay had to scramble to get ready so she wouldn't miss the service. Cleanliness was next to godliness, so she took an extremely quick shower and applied some body lotion at record speed. She winced when her hands rubbed over her neck and she stepped up to the mirror above the sink to take a look at what was causing the discomfort. Her eyes widened when she took in the way she looked. Daryl had absolutely ravaged her. Her neck now had a polka dot pattern, only that the polka dots were hickeys. It looked brutal, she couldn't believe that getting them had caused her so much pleasure, because it looked like the complete opposite. Daryl only had four or five, but Bay had at least twice as much, in all shapes and sizes. The amount of them surprised her, but it only confirmed that she had totally lost herself in the sensations and hadn't paid attention to the fact what it would look like in the morning... Or feel like. Surprise number two? These fuckers actually hurt a little. Not real pain, but like a bruise. They felt sore and tender. _In the end they are bruises, I guess._ "Okay, that solves the hair question. Definitely down, and I need a scarf." she mumbled to herself while she started getting dressed. She looked at her neck some more while she brushed her teeth. She was proud that she was wearing Daryl's marks, but it almost looked like someone had chocked her for a nice long while. She really wouldn't be able to go out looking like this without covering them up. Her old Sunday Dress thankfully had kind of a high collar, but she would still need a little scarf to cover up the rest.

_Oh damn, sweetheart. _Daryl's heart skipped a beat when Bay came out of the bathroom in her pretty dress and a pair of heels. _Might have a thing for seeing her in skirts. And fucking heels. Shit, wish she really would have forgotten 'bout church. _He thought she looked fantastic and seeing his marks littering her skin didn't hurt either. He thought that he must be more of a cave man than he'd thought, because manly pride filled him when he looked at her and he wouldn't mind giving the rest of her body the same treatment her neck had received. He loved the way her breath hitched and she started squirming a little when he licked her and sucked on her. He was craving to hear her moan his name. He couldn't wait to try to get her to that point. He knew it might be a little wrong, but he found himself even more turned on by her nervousness. Feeling her tremble, hearing her gasp and seeing those beautiful, large eyes look at him full of timidity, it all gave him a big fucking rush. It made him feel like a man. She had the wonderful talent of doing that without even trying. It made him feel like a man who knew what he was doing and who would be able to show her how it's done and who was able to make her feel good. The feeling was addictive and he was impatiently anticipating the moment when both of them would be back in this bed later today and go back to making out. Which brought him to his next question.

"When you gon' be back?"

"I don't know. Erin and I often lose track of time when we get to talking." Bay replied while she dug through her small closet, trying to find the black silky scarf she remembered having. "Shouldn't be too late. Early afternoon maybe?"

"Want me to pick you up later?"

"No, that's okay. You have fun with Pat." Bay smiled triumphantly when she had found the desired item and started tying it around her neck.

Daryl frowned while he watched her do it, not liking that she was covering up his masterpiece. "Whatchu doin'?"

"I don't have any concealer, so scarf it is. I can't go to church looking like a wild animal got a hold of me." Bay grinned teasingly and knelt down on the bed between his spread legs to give him a kiss goodbye.

"You don't like 'em?"

"I love them." Bay smiled and traced her fingertips softly over the ones she had given him, loving how she was raising goosebumps on his skin with her touch. "Just like these... " she leaned down and gently kissed one of them, making Daryl shiver slightly and grab her arms, squeezing her softly.

"That's evil, Bay. You're gonna leave in a minute."

"Sorry." she pressed the next kiss to his lips and sat back on her heels. "Hey umm... is it okay if I tell Erin? That we are... you know... like her and Sam?"

Daryl chuckled a little at that. It was funny how she was sometimes so incredibly brave and outspoken and then on other occasions, she wasn't even able to bring herself to say the word 'couple'. "Yeah, it's okay. Don't wanna hide it. Imma tell Pat, too. Everyone's gonna know next time we hang out with them, so nobody will ask stupid questions or look at us weird."

"That sounds good. I'm sorry, I gotta run. Literally." she gave him another kiss then she hurried out the door. "See you later! And don't forget to lock up!"

"Yeah. No worries." he waved a little and when she was gone, he flopped back down on the bed. He missed her already. The work week would not be any fun at all.

* * *

"Hey man! Long time no see!" Pat teased good-naturedly as Daryl entered the apartment for the first time in a couple of days.

"Ain't been that long." Daryl mumbled. "Hey." he nodded at Jessa, who was sitting in Pat's lap.

"Hi Daryl." she smiled. "Well, I have to get going, I have to help my Mum pack up."

"You gonna be okay, babe? If you two need help just call, alright?" Pat offered for the umpteenth time. He knew that Jessa was hurting because of her parents' divorce and he hated when she was sad and crying.

"Okay, but we'll be fine. Thank you." They kissed and Daryl used the opportunity to sneak off into the bathroom until Jessa had left. He didn't want her to be around when Patrick noticed the hickeys and Daryl would fess up. He gathered his shower things to bring back to Bay's, since he was there now most of the time and if he would spend the night here, he could just use Pat's stuff. When Daryl heard the apartment door close, he came back out of the bathroom with his toothbrush and bottles of shower gel and shampoo in hand. Pat laughed with his brows knit in a frown.

"Geez, you live with the girl now?" he looked up at Daryl's face, and that's when he finally noticed the dark, purple and red marks on his neck. There was no mistaking what those marks were, and the realization made a huge grin form on his lips. He got closer and acted like he was examining the love bites more closely, causing Daryl to blush and chew in his lip while he shifted his weight uncomfortably.

_Here we go._ Daryl thought with an internal sigh, but he figured he had the 'I told you so' coming. Here he'd denied liking 'that damn Bayanne girl' at all for weeks and now she was his girlfriend and he spent every free minute with her.

"No way... You dog, I knew it!" Patrick grinned. Then that grin vanished and he looked at him questioningly. "Wait... that was Bayanne, right?" he asked motioning towards the hickeys.

"Yeah... it was." Daryl mumbled with a nod and sighed deeply in preparation for what was to come. "Listen... we're ummm... I mean, me 'nd her... " Daryl stammered and Patrick was enjoying the show immensely. He knew exactly what Daryl was going to say, but he decided not to have mercy on him in that moment. He wanted to hear Daryl say it out loud.

"Yeah? You and her what?" he tried to fight the smug grin, but failed miserably.

_The bastard knows exactly what. _Daryl exhaled deeply and finally pressed out the words he wanted to say. "We're together now. Really, I mean."

Patrick kept grinning widely which had Daryl roll his eyes. "Let's hear it... I know you're gonna say it. Out with it. C'mon." Daryl waved his hands around in exasperation.

"I... fucking... told... you... so!" Patrick felt incredibly satisfied finally being able to say it, so he took his time and said each word slowly. "Man, I told you a million times. It was so fucking obvious ya wanted to be with her. Obvious to everyone but yourself."

"Yeah..." Daryl trailed off while he chewed his lip, not quite knowing what else to say.

Patrick slapped his hand down on Daryl's shoulder and shook him in a friendly gesture. "Honestly though? No bullshit... I'm fucking happy for ya, D. That's all I wanted for you, that's why we were pushing you two a little. But I see you made it work on your own. Damn proud, son."

"Stop." Daryl blushed and lightly jabbed his elbow into Pat's ribs.

"Looks like you got busy last night. Gone all the way?"

"Hell no. Ain't no damn rush, man."

"I know... but you two did do something." Pat smirked and pointed at Daryl's neck. "Little vampire, ain't she?"

"She looks way worse." Daryl said and wasn't able to suppress the proud little smile that forced itself onto his face.

"Ha! Awesome. Good for you, man." Patrick barked out a laugh. "Hey, man, don't worry 'bout anyone saying something. I'm serious when I say that everyone knew you guys were into each other. They're all gon' be happy for y'all. Ain't nobody gonna say shit."

"Good." Daryl mumbled and sat down on the sofa, finally relaxing a bit.

"So what you done? Just made out some?"

"Yeah." Daryl replied ever so monosyllabic. Patrick resorted to his old trick and walked into the kitchen and got out his baggie of pot and the rolling papers. Daryl thought that it might be a bit early for that, but then again, he had a couple of hours to kill until Bay would be back, and kicking back and relaxing before a long work week wouldn't hurt.

"You ain't in no hurry to rush back to her, are ya?" Patrick asked after they had both had a couple of hits.

"Nah. She's at church." Daryl replied and exhaled the smoke slowly.

"Hm... That's kinda hot." Patrick giggled slightly.

"Yeah. Tell me 'bout it." Daryl sighs. "She's... just fucking wow, man."

"Oh yeah? Like, how?" Patrick asked with a smile, happy that Daryl would open up a little, even if it was with a bit of help.

"She's got this damn brave side,... She ain't afraid ta speak her mind or rip me a new one. She's kinda wild in a way... and then she's so damn shy and nervous, all tremblin' and shit. And it's hot. Shouldn't think like that, I reckon, but the whole thing drives me fucking crazy. That she's both ya know? Shy and wild at the same time? Gets me hard so fast it feels like my dick is punching my fucking pants." Daryl mumbled and erupted into a giggle when he realized what he had said and the mental image began to form in his slightly hazy mind.

Patrick burst out giggling and shook his head. "That's hilarious, dude. Kinda scary, too. Need some tips on what to do with her?"

"Nah. I'm good. Don't need no advice about how to take care of my girl." Daryl mumbled and closed his eyes, the images of how to do it already filling his head.

Patrick just looked at him for a while with a big smile on his face. He really was happy for his best friend for finally having something, or someone, good in his life. He hoped that Bay and Daryl would be able to make it work for a long time.

* * *

"Nice scarf, Bay!" Erin looked suspiciously at the dark, silky piece of fabric that was adorning Bay's neck. Bay had been lucky that Erin had been home because it had been her parents' anniversary the night before and they'd had a family dinner.

"Thanks. It's old." Bay fumbled with the material, making Erin narrow her eyes even more, because she swore she saw something dark peek out close to Bay's ear.

"Take it off."

"Don't freak out!" Bay laughed quietly as she loosened the knot and pulled the black scarf off. Erin's eyes widened to the size of saucers and she inhaled forcefully, making a startled sound that sounded like a 'hhhhuuuuuuuurghhhhhh'.

"Oh my GOD! Bay, what the fuck?" Erin was shocked and didn't realize right away what it really was. It looked almost gruesome to her.

"It's nothing bad. It's just hickeys..."

"Hickeys?" Erin asked puzzled.

"Yes, just hickeys. We got a little carried away I'm afraid." Bay gingerly put her fingers to her neck with a dreamy smile. Feeling the soreness excited her deep down and she felt a little bit of that now familiar pull of arousal when she remembered how Daryl had given the love bites to her.

It took Erin a moment to put two and two together, but suddenly her face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Noooooooo! Daryl? You and Daryl? Wooooohooooo!" Erin was cheering and Bay was laughing.

"Okay, didn't think you would be that happy about it."

"Of course I am! That's awesome, Bay. You two will be so good for each other. Wow and from the looks of it he already can't get enough of you!" Erin smiled and carefully pulled Bay's hand from her neck to take a closer look at her neck.

"It felt so nice, stopping him was the least thing on my mind."

"Did you guys do it?"

"Sex? No... but... well, that's why I'm here..." Bay cleared her throat and fidgeted with the scarf in her hands.

"He's not pushing you into it, is he?" Erin asked with a frown. If he had, then she had really misjudged Daryl. She hadn't thought that he would be the kind of guy to do that.

"No, no. He didn't. He is amazing. I am... um... You know, that I've never had sex on my mind much, right?"

"Yeah, I know. Why?"

"I've never been real interested in it and now, with Daryl... even before we kissed for the first time, I wanted him to kiss and touch me,... and now that I actually know what it feels like... I mean within a week or two I go from 'not interested in sex' to 'Oh God, I'm going to die if he doesn't touch my boobs or between my legs'? Is that normal at all? That it happens this fast? I mean, he licked my neck and I was... wow,... that was just amazing. And I keep thinking about and wanting his hands and mouth in other places, you know?" Bay stopped to take a breath, and Erin was just about to give her an answer, when Bay kept talking. "Oh and by the way.. I tried masturbating, but it didn't work. It felt nice, yeah, but you know what? I quickly got frustrated instead of happy, because I wanted Daryl to touch me and guess what, Daryl wasn't there to touch me and that pissed me off."

"Are you done?" Erin asked with an amused laugh, causing Bay to bite her lip and look down at her fiddling hands.

"Yes. Sorry."

"Look, I am not a sex expert or something like that. I don't know what's normal in this case, I can only tell you how it was for me and what Jessa and a few others told me about how it was for them. When I got together with Sam, I had it in my head that I wanted to wait at least three months before I would have intercourse with him. I don't know why, but it seemed like a good time to wait, in case he turned out to be a player, you know? Make him work for it and see if he is really interested or if he only wants in my pants. Anyway, it didn't work out like that. I lasted three weeks, and not because he tried to talk me into it or something, but because **I** wanted it and couldn't wait any longer. Oh and in those three weeks leading up to that, we did a lot of other sex stuff,... everything but his dick inside of me, you know?" Erin smiled slightly when she noticed Bay's cheeks turn red, but this time the inexperienced girl was putting on a brave front and kept listening intently instead of hiding behind her hands. "And from what I hear it's been very similar for Jessa and the others as well. I think if he really makes you hot and you want to do more with him, then just do what feels good, and as soon as it is too much or you start being uncomfortable, turn it down a notch. Did you tell him that you have no experience at all?"

"Um no... not really. I tried, but I just didn't get it our right."

"Try again, I think it would be good for him to know."

"Yes, I think he should know, too. I'll try again soon." Bay sighed with a smile. "I'm so happy. He makes me feel so good, it's crazy. I wanna do the same for him, but somehow... I wasn't able to get my hands to move. I know what you told me, about guys liking to be touched as well... I just... I froze, I think."

"Give yourself some time, Bay. Start out slow. Start with his back or his arms until you are more comfortable. You know, he is probably doing to you what he knows and likes. So just mirror him at first until you get the hang of it and aren't afraid to experiment a little on your own." Erin murmured a little absently, as her brain was already a step ahead. "Uuuuuhhh! You know what? Daryl has these really broad shoulders,... they're bigger than those of the other guys, and I'm sure he knows that. I could imagine that he might be a bit proud of them, and if you worship them a little, by kissing and stroking and so on, I think he might really be into that."

"Yeah, that sounds plausible. Mirror him and pay attention to shoulders... I'll try to keep that in mind."

"But really, in the end just do what feels good for you, sweetie. Just try to let go a little. Maybe let him lead you, I'm sure he'll love that. You can take his hand and guide it, too. For all the sex we've had, sometimes I'm still a little embarrassed to tell Sam what I like or want, especially if it's something new we haven't done before, so I usually guide his hands. Might be a good solution for you two as well."

"Maybe,... yeah. Can I ask... how was it? Your first time?" Bay asked timidly.

"You already thinking about it?" Erin asked a little surprised.

"I imagine what it might be like. I really really like him and I'm so attracted to him... It's insane. I feel like a freak for getting so hot from him doing this to my neck."

"Don't feel like a freak. It is so good that you are able to enjoy it, Bay. Really, don't stress out. Now, I'm not gonna lie, my first time wasn't the most pleasant thing in the world. Sam was really careful, but we got to it pretty quick and I think a bit more playing around right before might have been better. It hurt a little bit, it was mostly uncomfortable and a bit awkward, but it did get better and better with every time we did it. Jessa had a better experience with Patrick. She said they spent a lot of time fooling around and getting each other hot and ready and she barely felt anything when he pushed in. Pain, I mean. So if you wanna do it, make him do lots and lots of foreplay. Maybe get him off once before you do the actual deed, so he will be more patient and will last longer." Erin explained, this time making Bay laugh. "What?"

"You say you're no sex expert, but you sure sound like you work for one of those magazines that writes about sex tips."

"Oh, that's a good idea, Bay. Those magazines might be crap mostly, but they can give you basic ideas on how to do hand and blow jobs." This time Bay blushed a darker shade of red again and held her cool hands to her cheeks.

"Oh my... I never thought I'd say that, but I am **so **curious about his... thingy."

"Oh God, please don't ever call it that to his face, Bay. Thingy... you are so cute. You wanna touch it?"

"I wouldn't mind touching it."

"So do it. I'm very sure he wouldn't mind either."

"I don't know if I have the guts to do that." Bay laughed and rubbed her arms when she got goosebumps from thinking about that morning when Daryl's penis had been firmly pressed against her. It had felt so big and hard. Kind of nice, actually.

"Like I said, just do what you are comfortable with. Wanna go and get some magazines? Drop by the Wal-Mart and see if the boys are there yet?"

"Yeah, why not. Let's go." Bay smiled and slung the scarf back around her neck. She hadn't gotten the definitive answer she had been looking for, but at least she knew that other girls had gone through very similar things. That at least put her at ease a bit more.

"Oh, but I gotta know, Bay... he a good kisser?" Erin grinned curiously.

"Oh my God, Erin. He is the best. He kisses like he means it." Bay sighed blissfully. She didn't quite know the meaning of her words herself, but that's what it felt like to her, when he gripped her and held her to him a little roughly and possessively. She loved it.

* * *

Even though it was Sunday, it had been a little early for a gathering at the parking lot, so Bay and Erin had retreated back to Erin's with their small stack of magazines. Bay and Erin were soon engrossed in an article on 'How to give an Earth-Shattering Handjob'. It lead to Bay shaking her head in defeat a couple of times.

"Good Lord, I didn't know about any of this stuff. I thought the porn was, well, just porn. I didn't think it really worked like that. Yeah, I'm pathetic, I know. Play with his... um... balls... Oh boy... And use lube? How do you do that? Just stop in the middle of making out and get out some lotion or something? It sounds so weird, Erin."

"It's not, Bay. Sure it will be a bit awkward the first couple of times while you slowly get to know each other and your bodies better, but really, he will absolutely love you for it if you use something. And the rest you have to figure out, just like everything else, because every guy likes different things. But from what I hear having their balls played with is always a favorite." Erin shrugged. She and Sam had been together for about 9 months now and had tried a lot of stuff by now and they knew what they were doing and what the other one liked.

"It all sounds so intimidating."

"I know, sweetie, but when you're in the moment, it will be better. And once you notice how much he enjoys it, you will get addicted to it. Oh and you know what? I just thought of something. Just keep some hand-lotion next to your bed and shortly before you guys get a bit busy, just lotion up your hands a little. They might still be a little bit slippery when you get your hands on him. Might be worth a try."

"And again... you might not think you're a sex expert, but you dole out advice like a pro." Bay giggled.

"Hm, maybe I shouldn't become a nurse then? Maybe I should become some kind of sex advisor." Erin joked and popped a pretzel into her mouth.

"If you'll ever need a career change, you'll have that idea in your back pocket." Bay smiled and kept thumbing through the rest of the magazine, but her attention always went back to that article and all those tips it had provided. Intimidating indeed, but it also evoked a lot of curiosity.

* * *

Bay and Erin returned to the parking lot later in the afternoon, and Bay's heart started racing in excitement, when she noticed Daryl's truck being there. However she was terribly insecure about what was going to happen as soon as they saw each other. They had agreed not to keep it secret, but they hadn't discussed how they would greet each other in public. _Do I kiss him on the lips? On the cheek? Not at all? A hug? Or nothing? Just stand next to him? Oh God, this is torture._

However Bay's excitement died quickly, when she spotted Cassie standing next to Daryl once again. When Cassie spied Bay she immediately put her arm around Daryl's shoulder and laughed loudly at what he had been saying, putting on a big show for Bay. She might not have started this little feud, but she sure as hell wouldn't let Bay treat her like she had and let her get away with it. The girl needed to be put in her place.

Bay shot her a scowl, while Erin scoffed. "Can't believe I defended her. Now she's asking for it."

"I'll say." Bay muttered darkly, jealously quickly creeping into every fiber of her being, even though she knew, that Daryl was her boyfriend now and he had told her he didn't like anyone but her. The rational part of her brain had been overridden by the jealousy. Cassie just rubbed her the completely wrong way.

"Come on, sweetie. Let's get a drink." Erin grabbed her arm and pulled her over to Jason's truck, where Sam was already waiting for his girlfriend. While they greeted each other with what seemed a hundred kisses, Jason handed Bay a beer and looked her up and down.

"Wow, Bay... looking good. You clean up nice."

Erin pulled away from Sam and gently pushed Jason against his arm. "You don't say that to a girl!"

"What?" Jason was puzzled. "It was a compliment. Why the hell am I not supposed to say that?"

"Cause it sounds like she looks like trash the rest of the time." Daryl cut in before Erin was able to reply, and goosebumps made Bay shudder when she heard his soft, but deep voice right behind her. "Hey." Daryl smiled slightly when Bay turned to face him.

"Hey." she said back and both stood there, unsure of what to do. Bay, in a quick burst of bravery, leaned up and kissed his cheek. Daryl bit down on his bottom lip and took her hand in his while he looked at her and jerked his head to the side to motion towards his truck. He gently pulled her with him and out of sight of the others. He backed her up against his truck and kissed her firmly.

"Thought you'd be back sooner." he muttered under his breath between kisses.

"That was the plan... but Erin and I had a lot to talk about and as usual, we lost track of time." she got the words out every time he would release her lips for a second.

"Fucking long day." he growled and put his hands on either side of her face. He shut her up before she was able to reply by pushing his tongue into her mouth and letting it tangle with hers. He had missed her. Not even the damn joint had taken his mind off of her. Quite the opposite, it had only stoked his longing for her even more. They lost themselves in their kissing for a little while, Daryl's hands traveling her back and arms again, while Bay placed her free hand lightly on his waist. The other was still holding her beer.

"Hey Dixon! Come over here for a minute." Tom Mansfield had arrived. He was Merle's go-to-guy for guns and Daryl was looking into getting one for Bay. He wanted her to be able to protect herself if push ever came to shove.

"I gotta go. After this we can go home, though. 'kay?"

"Yeah sure. Go ahead." Bay smiled and happily accepted one more kiss before he released her and walked over to Tom's car. Bay took a sip from her beer and walked back around to the other side of the car and leaned against it, to wait for Daryl to return. He had only been gone for a minute, when Cassie came walking up to her. Bay rolled her eyes and tried to ignore her, but her blood was starting to boil already.

"Well, well, well... You and Daryl, huh? I gotta say I'm surprised. I've known him for a long time and I really didn't think he would be going for a fake skank with a holier than thou-attitude." Cassie spat with a sickly sweet smile.

"He isn't. That's why he's with me and not with you." Bay shrugged casually.

"Oh, so you're better than me. That what you're saying bitch? Let me tell you something, then. You might dress all prim and proper in your little dress and your cute scarf and all, but you ain't got me fooled. I heard about you. You're nothing but white trash. Your mommy and daddy hated you so much they had to be high as kites to be able to stand having you around." Cassie's smile was finally gone as she spewed her vicious poison.

Bay straightened abruptly, letting the bottle drop to the ground before she clenched her fists. "Oh you did not just go there!"

"I did. And you know what? Daryl ain't made for having a little virgin-ass girlfriend. He needs a real woman to take care of him. He'll get tired of you so fast it'll make your head spin. You're just a cute little past-time for the time being. A warm bed to stay in when he can't stay with Pat. That's all, so don't play all high and mighty, girly. You're nobody! You are absolutely nothing!"

Bay had never felt so much rage in her entire life. It steamrolled her, consuming her very being and before she realized what she was doing, her hand was throbbing something awful and Cassie was crouched over, holding her face, and she heard a commotion and lots of shouting going on. But she was so out of it and focused on her anger, that it sounded like it was in the far distance and not immediately surrounding her. Next thing she knew Cassie was rushing her and slamming her back into Daryl's truck. The air rushed from her lungs and black dots clouded her vision for a short moment, before her vision turned fire-engine red and she physically lashed out at Cassie again, punching her and grabbing her stupid fake blonde hair and pulling on it with all her might, while Cassie scratched at her and tried to kick her.

Everybody else had quickly gathered in a circle around the fighting girls, the boys hooting and cheering, while the other girls looked on in horror. Daryl was watching as well, confused as hell about what the deal between Cassie and Bay was. He found himself firmly rooted to his spot as he took in the view of his petite girlfriend in her pretty dress and heels take on the taller and stronger Cassie. He was definitely worried about Bay's safety, and he knew he should intervene, but his legs weren't moving. Seeing Bay fight was strangely erotic. If anyone would ask, he would be lying if he'd say that he wasn't getting turned on by it. And his girl was totally winning, too. She was kicking Cassie's ass, and damn that made him proud. At the same time he didn't like it at all that she was getting herself in trouble and potentially getting herself hurt. He was damn conflicted about the damn thing and just stood there gaping. A strong push against his arm pulled him out of his near paralyzed state.

"What the hell are you doing standing there and gawking?" Erin was the one pushing him and looking at him like he was insane. "Do something! Break them up! You, too!" she pushed Sam as well and the men finally jumped into action. Sam grabbed Cassie and Daryl slung his arms around Bay's waist and they tore the fighting girls apart.

"I'll kill you, you stupid slut!" Cassie screeched and struggled in Sam's strong hold.

"Pffff... you hit like a girl. What are you gonna do? Throw pink cotton balls at me until I bleed?" Bay taunted the other girl coolly, even though her body was hurting and throbbing in several places.

"Bay, girl! Stop! Fucking stop, it's over, ya hear me? We're going. Get in the truck!" Daryl said sternly with his voice raised.

Bay looked at him defiantly and Daryl took a step closer, staring her down and pointing at the passenger side door. His voice was low and his words slow and deliberate. "Bay... Get in the fucking car. Now!" he was torn between being concerned, angry, turned on and damn proud.

"Fine!" Bay yanked open the door and climbed in. Daryl slammed the door close behind her before he stomped around to the other side and got in himself.

"The hell is going on with the two of ya?" he asked gruffly when they were on their way home. Bay proceeded to tell him what Cassie had said to her and Daryl had to admit that Cassie had deserved the ass-kicking that Bay had delivered. Of course he wouldn't admit that to Bay. He didn't want her to know that he'd actually enjoyed seeing her like that. "That was fucking stupid, Bay! Wasn't it you who told me she was anti-violence? You hated that I fucking punched Josh Hansen, and now you go do the same?"

"I am not proud of it, okay? I don't know what happened? I just... that anger just rolled over me and shut down my brain or something. I **am **anti-violence... I was... shit... she makes me so irrationally mad, it's ridiculous. I've never been this angry before. Now I hate her even more because she turned me into a damn hypocrite." Bay grumbled and crossed her arms over her chest defensively.

Daryl looked over at her and was glad that he was sitting. She was making him go weak in the knees. He'd forgotten how fucking hot she was, when she was pissed. Face flushed and eyes ablaze, her inner strength shining through. _Fuck!_

He barely made it up the stairs, he had to dig his fingernails into his palms to keep from touching her, but as soon as the door was closed behind them, he had her pushed up against it. His tongue pushed past her lips, dominating hers and when he tasted a hint of blood, he growled slightly in the back of his throat. Bay wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight as Daryl cupped her butt in his strong hands and lifted her up, so he wouldn't get a crick in his neck. Even with heels she was still shorter than him. Bay instinctively locked her ankles behind his ass, as the sounds of harsh breathing and quiet whimpers were the only sounds for a couple of minutes, then Daryl's mouth pressed down a little too hard on the spot where Bay's lip was split.

"Ouch..." Bay pulled back and her little cry of pain made Daryl sober up. He took a deep breath and slowly set her down on the floor again. He carefully put his hand to the left side of her face and took in her appearance. She had some scrapes on her forehead and cheekbone, a slightly bloody nose and the split lip.

"You go wash up and then I'll take care of this." He said after he had made sure that none of her injuries were serious. "And don't do this shit again. Could have gotten messed up!" he said gruffly, but the corners of his mouth were turned up, showing her that he wasn't all that mad. He wanted to be stern with her and make sure she wouldn't get in a fight again, but hell, he just couldn't hide that it had made him proud.

Bay grinned and kissed him softly, but he quickly pulled back and winked at her, while he gently slapped her ass. "Go!" he laughed slightly and pointed towards the bathroom. _Damn girl's gonna be the death of me._

* * *

Bay took off her scarf, her dress and her bra and put on the white wife beater she had brought into the bathroom with her. "Damn, forgot my shorts." she muttered while she put her hair up in a ponytail. She turned on the faucet and bowed down slightly and cupped her hands underneath the stream of cold water. When her hands were about to overflow she splashed the water into her face, repeating the action twice before she carefully rubbed her eyes and straightened. She grabbed the navy blue washcloth from the rim of the sink and held it under the water next, before she brought it up to her face and removed the mascara smudges that was staining the skin underneath her eyes. Next she dabbed at the bloody scrapes on her face and removed the blood from underneath her nose. It really wasn't that bad. The only part of her body that still hurt was her back from when Cassie had slammed her against Daryl's truck. That and of course her hand, but that she didn't think it was broken or sprained. Just bruised.

Bay dried her face with a clean towel, then she grabbed the Neosporin she still had from when Daryl had brought it over for the cut on her chest, then she left the bathroom, to let him play nurse for a bit. Daryl had already removed his clothes, because it was once again hot as hell, so he was lounging on the bed in only his dark plaid boxer shorts. He swallowed hard when Bay came out of the bathroom. He hadn't seen her in just her panties yet, she had always worn shorts, but tonight she presented herself in simple white cotton panties. To him, she couldn't be sexier if she tried. It suited her and it was so much better than any hot, lacy number Victoria's Secret would ever be able to come up with. _So fucking innocent... Damn, baby girl. You ain't making this easy. _

"C'mere." he motioned with his hand for her to come and join him on the bed. "Gimme that." he took the Neosporin out of her hand. Bay knelt between his spread legs and let him inspect the small wounds once more, now that she had cleaned them. "Don't look too bad. You'll live." he smirked and dabbed a bit of the ointment on the scrapes. "Anythin' hurt?"

"Just my back."

"Lemme see." Daryl screwed the lid back on the small tube and put it on the floor while Bay turned around and sat down with her legs crossed. Daryl carefully pushed the wife beater up to her shoulders. He slowly slid his palms over the soft skin, raising goosebumps and making her shiver. "Cold?"

"Not exactly." Bay laughed slightly embarrassed, making Daryl smile.

"Just a little bruised." he mumbled and lowered his head, pressing his lips against her back, causing Bay to shudder again. "Crazy girl..." he whispered against her skin as his lips traveled up her spine, his hands rubbing her arms gently, feeling the still present gooseflesh he was causing with his ministrations. "Third time I hafta play nurse for ya..." his lips reached the spot where her wife beater had been pushed up to. He quickly skimmed over it and flicked the tip of his tongue against the base of her neck. "Gonna send me to an early grave if ya keep it up."

"I'm sorry." Bay inhaled deeply before she exhaled the air in a shaky breath. He was already turning her on again with what he was doing and with how he talked to her. "I promise that I'm not actively looking for trouble."

"There ain't no need lookin' for it. It always finds **you**. Good thing Imma keep an eye on ya." he murmured before he licked a long, wet strip up the back of her neck, and let her feel his teeth with slight pressure. Her little moan made him grin smugly as he nuzzled her hair. _Ya like that, sweetheart?_

"Yes... it feels... so nice..." Bay stammered out slightly embarrassed, causing Daryl's eyes to widen when he realized that he had actually voiced the question out loud instead of just thinking it. _Guess now I know for sure that she likes it. _Daryl leaned back against his pillow that was propped up against the back of his couch, and pulled Bay with him. Her partially bare back rested against his fully bare belly and chest, and Bay immediately felt his warmth penetrate her and spread through her body. It was a wonderfully intimate feeling. Her head fell back against his strong shoulder and she smiled happily with closed eyes when she felt him nuzzle and kiss her temple while his fingertips gently stroked along her arms. They looked relaxed, but in reality the adrenalin from earlier was still pumping through their veins. Bay wanted to kiss him badly, but she wanted to get something off her chest first.

"Daryl?"

"Hm?"

"I want to tell you something. I tried telling you yesterday, but it didn't come out right."

"What?"

"You know how I said I might be nervous a lot? It's umm... because I don't really know what I'm doing. I guess by now you figured out that I'm a... virgin...?"

"I know. It's cool. Ain't gon' rush you or nothing. Only gonna do what you wanna do, alright?"

"I'm not worried about that, I trust you. It's something else. It might not be something you really need to know, but in the spirit of being honest and open, I simply want to put my cards on the table, so you know what you are dealing with."

"You're starting to make me nervous, Bay. What's going on?" Daryl looked at her with a slight frown.

"I talked to Erin,... you know... girl stuff... she told me a bit about how she and Sam... got to know each other better... you know... in bed... "

Daryl cleared his throat and squirmed a bit, still unsure of what she was saying. "That mean there's something ya wanna try, or...?"

"No, it's... umm something came up... while we talked. God this is hard to say... It's a bit embarrassing I guess... Well I kissed two boys before..."

"Yeah, I know..." Daryl slightly gritted his teeth. He'd known about that. These news spread quickly and he had actually witnessed the kisses with Danny McHollister. A mental image that made jealousy spread throughout his entire body.

"And you know I've never gone further than that with anybody... And when I say that I mean... um... Not only have I never had sex with a boy... ummm,... gosh... I a-also... I've never... well,... I've never had sex with umm... myself... either." Bay finally spit it out and only looked up at him for a split second before she averted her eyes again and nervously drummed her own fingers on her belly in a fast rhythm.

It took a moment for Daryl to realize what she was telling him. _Never had sex with myself? What the hell does that mea-... Oh fucking hell, she ain't never rubbed one out? She sayin' she ain't never cum before? Nah, come on... that can't be. _Daryl needed her to clarify, but he wasn't entirely sure how to ask. "Bay... ya never... That mean that ya never... ya ain't never taken care of yerself?"

"No. I've always been busy with family things... Those sex things... they never even crossed my mind during all that time. I guess it's not for me." Bay sighed and laughed slightly when she saw Daryl's frown deepen. "No, no, I don't mean sex in general... just that one thing... I do get... uh,... excited... when we're together... Oh God that sounds so bad, I'm sorry." Bay hid her red face and giggled with embarrassment before she continued. "I was talking about taking care of myself, as you called it. I tried once, but it didn't work. It only frustrated me, because I didn't have the real thing... Anyway, what I wanted to say is, that I **really** don't know what I'm doing. I'm pretty much operating on instinct, I reckon. I... m-might need your help a bit... I'm guessing you know a lot more about these things than me."

_Holy shit, she really ain't never cum before. She'll need me to show her everything. _He felt his primal urges awaken with a start, that awesome feeling of being a man filling him again, just like blood was starting to fill out his dick at the thought of really being her first for pretty much everything. _Down boy! Ain't the time. _Daryl cleared his throat again and smiled a little, while a light shade of crimson colored his cheeks. "I ain't done too much neither, Bay..." he thought about all the pornos and magazines he had watched and read over time and realized that even though he had only fucked twice, without any foreplay or other fancy stuff, he still knew more about sex than his girl did. He at least had an idea of what he could do to make her feel good and make her cum. He knew where he should put his fingers and what movements to try, he knew ways to manipulate her breasts, etc... he knew things he could try, he just needed to figure out what she liked, whereas Bay probably didn't have any idea what to do to him. And she would need him to show her. _I get to play fucking teacher. Holy mother of fuck! Fucking down boy! _The news excited and scared him at the same time, but the excitement was much bigger than the fear. He was a young, red-blooded male and he would get to introduce his girl into the world of sex. It was a fucking wet dream come true for him. It was a challenge he gladly accepted. It would give him a sense of being in control, a feeling he liked very much, and it would also give him a sense of confidence that she was trusting him to ease her into being more comfortable sexually and helping her going through and doing things that she would like to experience. Hell yeah, he liked that and he really didn't mind one single bit that she was as inexperienced as they come. Her innocence was a major turn on and he couldn't wait to corrupt his good little baby girl in the worst way (in a positive sense, of course.) He was sure even if they'd eventually get down and dirty, that she would still retain that innocence, so he wasn't worried about her losing it when they would start having sex.

Daryl finally took a deep, shaky breath to calm his raging hormones and gave her his cute, tiny smile. "We'll figure it out. Ain't no problem, ya hear?" he kissed her gently and looked into her eyes. "Promise me that you'll stop me if I go too far. I know ya said that you would, but I want you to promise it one last time."

"I promise." she smiled happily and was utterly relieved that she had told him and that it was out of the way now. They cuddled some more, then Bay realized that they hadn't eaten yet. Neither of them was very hungry, which had them perfectly content with a couple of sandwiches. They fed each other, sharing some giggles while they did it. It was so sweet that it might have made any observers gag and throw up. They couldn't care less, they were in their own little bubble. As soon as they had finished eating, they were back to their new favorite activity: making out like their lives depended on it.

Daryl soon was on top of her, supporting his weight on his forearms with his hands resting between the bed and her shoulders, tightly gripping them while he dominated the kiss and feasted on her lips. Bay instinctively spread her legs a little more to accommodate him and make herself more comfortable, and Daryl, unconsciously, made sure that their crotches didn't touch. He was hard, the little sounds she was making while they kissed were driving him wild. On any other day it wouldn't have been too hard to control himself in a situation like this, but the newest info about Bay's inexperience and the images of her fighting Cassie left him without a chance in the fight against getting a boner. Bay let her hands rest on his neck again, gently stroking the skin for a while, until Daryl's lips moved away from her own and he licked a long line from her shoulder up to her ear. She felt every single hickey his tongue was stroking on it's little journey, making her moan a bit more while she turned her head to the side to give him better access. He didn't give her new love bites, he just very gently let her feel his lips, his tongue and his teeth on the existing ones and the pleasure it caused made her head spin. Without realizing it, her hands started wandering a little, exploring his amazing shoulders and the surprisingly soft, smooth skin, that covered hard, toned muscles.

_He feels so good. He makes __**me **__feel so good. _She wanted to give back and she remembered what Erin had told her. _Mirror him. He's probably doing to you what he would like you to do to him. _His lips were back on hers when Bay slid her hands down his shoulders and over his back. She felt the raised, slightly uneven skin of the scars. She had expected him to flinch, since he was a bit sensitive about them, but if he was uncomfortable, he didn't let it on. He just kept kissing her, coaxing her tongue into his mouth to suck on it. Bay shuddered and dug her fingers into his back, causing Daryl to groan in quiet excitement. _Guys prefer firmer touches. Rake your nails up his back. _Bay followed Erin's advice, she still remembered all of it and when her hands had reached the waistband of his boxers, Bay gently dragged her nails up his back. She smiled into the kiss when she felt him respond. This time it was him who shuddered and who was getting goosebumps and he growled slightly in the back of his throat. Daryl smiled, too when he felt hers and he pulled one hand from underneath her back and cupped her chin in the space between his thumb and forefinger to turn her head back to the side. Playfully he bit into her earlobe and tugged on it, making Bay gasp and giggle at the same time. Daryl kissed and nibbled along her jaw on the way back to her mouth, his heart started slamming against his ribcage when he felt Bay's hands slowly slide on his underwear-covered ass.

_Awww shit, baby girl... that's good... _Daryl sighed against her skin and slightly pushed his butt into her hands to reassure her that it was something he liked.

Bay remembered how good it had felt for her, when he had squeezed her butt and had pulled her against him. The words 'mirror him' egging her on to do just that. She grabbed his buttocks a little harder and pulled an unsuspecting Daryl against her. Neither of them was prepared for that gigantic shock of lust that went through them, when his hard length rubbed against her center. There were only two very thin layers of fabric separating them and the feeling was absolutely exquisite. Daryl tensed up and froze and stared down at Bay. He was just about to pull away and give her some space when he realized two things at once. Number one, Bay was panting slightly with her face flushed, her lips parted and her eyes closed, while surprised, but aroused and slightly high-pitched moans were leaving her mouth and filling the room. Number two, she hadn't let go of him. She was still grabbing his ass and she was fucking moving against him. She was dry-humping him, rubbing her pussy up against his hard dick over and over again. Daryl was close to losing his mind. "Bay..."

"Oh God, Daryl..." she moaned helplessly. Nothing had ever felt this good. She was shocked, but in a good way. _More,... more..._ It was all she was thinking and she was completely running on instinct when she kept moving against him. She got what all the fuss was about, this felt absolutely amazing. So much better than that one time in the bathtub, and this time there was no frustration, because it was Daryl who was helping making her feel good. She had no idea what she was doing, if it was right or wrong or what it was doing to him, she only knew that she wasn't able to stop, she needed more or she would die.

Daryl was powerless. When he heard her moan his name he was a goner. He relaxed, as much as a man was able to relax when his girlfriend was rubbing her sweet, untouched pussy against his erection, seeking friction that would lead her to her first release. He started moving along with her, slinging one arm around her hips, angling her pelvis and lifting her up against him for even more friction. They were too breathless to kiss, Daryl simply pressed his forehead against hers while they panted and moaned and groaned, their breaths mingling and making the air around them even hotter. "Daryl... oh my God, Daryl..." Bay kept gasping out ever so often, not even sure why, it came out all on its own.

"Let go... I got ya..." Daryl murmured under his breath as he gripped her tighter as if to prove his point. Suddenly something was different and he felt a very familiar tingle at the base of his spine, and he soon realized what was causing it. Bay's eyes snapped open, because she felt it, too. For a moment she wasn't sure what she was feeling, but her subconscious told her that it was something very sexy, making her pleasure spike even before she realized that she was feeling the firm, hot, moist, but velvety soft tip of Daryl's cock against the bare skin of her belly. Daryl's boxer shorts were old and the elastic inside the waistband wasn't holding up as well anymore. Their movements had allowed his straining length to push past it, making the tip peek out and rub up against Bay's tummy. The hot pre-cum leaking from his tip made the whole affair nice and slippery for him and he was unable to keep himself from rubbing it against her skin. His hips were moving of their own volition, sending him crashing towards his release.

It was so utterly erotic, Bay was shaking even though she had a hard time comprehending what was happening. His forehead still resting against hers, Bay looked up at him, but Daryl had his eyes screwed shut. "Daryl... Daryl, please..."

That was it. His name on her lips, begging him for something, that was more than he was able to stand. Daryl came, and he came all over her belly. Bay's eyes widened when she felt hot moisture land on her skin in little spurts while Daryl bucked against her a couple more times. His breathing came out in quick, harsh pants, his head dropped to her shoulder, hiding his face in the crook of her neck while he went through the aftershocks of his climax. As soon as the rush ebbed off, he immediately started feeling mortified and ashamed for what he'd done. _Fuck, man. You damn idiot. An hour ago she told ya she ain't never done this and you fucking cum all over her? Shit, man... shit shit shit._

He rolled off of her and flopped onto his back, hiding his face behind his hands while he tried to get his breathing under control. Bay was laying there, staring at the ceiling, still having trouble breathing herself. She was still aroused and she was confused. She wasn't really able to think straight, but she slowly brought her hand to her belly and softly explored the creamy liquid that was staining her skin. It was cooling quickly and it felt a bit sticky and unfamiliar, but she wasn't intimidated by it. In a way she felt proud... it was the evidence of Daryl's pleasure. He had gotten there with her help... She didn't know how all of that stuff worked, but somehow feeling and seeing his cum on her made her girl parts throb even more. It felt like her pulse was hammering down there and she started squirming and pressing her legs together, trying to ease the hard throbbing she was feeling. She looked over at Daryl who was still hiding behind his hands and she reached out to touch his forearm.

"Daryl..." she called out softly and her heart sank when he shook her off.

"Don't!" came the muffled command that made her pull her hand back.

"Oh... s-sorry..." she was stunned and had no idea what to do or why he was reacting the way he was. Had she misjudged him? _Or does my being inexperienced bother him after all? Was it bad? But he did have an orgasm... I don't understand..._She was puzzled, and she was a bit hurt by his reaction and most of all, she was frustrated. "Are you mad at me?"

"No, Bay... I ain't. Just... give me a damn minute." Daryl wasn't mad at her. He was ashamed and mad at himself for crossing the line like that. He thought he had more self-control. She was so sexy, she didn't even know just how much and she was driving him nuts with it. He seriously had to be more careful. He should have let her known what she was doing and what it would do... He was a suck-ass teacher. He would have to teach himself some discipline before he'd be able to teach her anything.

"Okay..." Bay muttered with disappointment. "I'll take a bath." she pulled her top down, the fabric soaking up the result of Daryl's climax, so his juices wouldn't stain the bed or the floor.

"Alright." he sighed and rolled onto his belly when she was gone, pressing the pillow down on his own head. "I'm such a damn idiot. Always gotta fuck everything up."

* * *

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	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

She tried. Oh, how hard she tried... Bay was in the bathtub, panting and sweating, one hand squeezing her sensitive breast, and the other hand working clumsily and frantically between her legs. Her eyes were screwed shut tight, her whole face scrunched up in frustration as she tried her hardest to get rid of that annoying throbbing in her center. _I need an orgasm. Oh God please, I need one, I can't take this. _However, what she didn't know, of course, was, that for almost all women it didn't work like this. If they were too tense and focusing too much on reaching their climax, it often didn't happen. On top of that she wasn't able to make her brain and her body accept her own touch. It felt nice, but it wasn't very pleasurable to her. Not like Daryl's thingy rubbing against her had been. It was of no use, she needed him. She had no clue what she was doing and she simply needed her boyfriend to help her out.

"DAMNIT!" Bay cursed loudly and punched the tub in frustration. "Ooouuuch!" she whined quietly and shook her aching hand, the same one she had punched Cassie with earlier. Knowing her luck she might have sprained it now. _Great, Daryl sure as hell isn't going to play nurse for a fourth time, seeing as I wasn't even allowed to touch his arm just now. Great, if this happens when __**I **__start exploring, I better don't do it ever again. Just stick to kissing. This is torture. _She sighed deeply and rubbed her face hard. She had to accept that there would be no help for her tonight from the looks of things. She'd just have to go to bed and hope that the throbbing would stop eventually and let her sleep. She hoped to God that it would never return once it was gone.

Daryl had heard her yelling and he felt a pang in his heart. He had disappointed her and he figured she was pissed at him. Well, in a way she really was pissed at him right now, but not for the reason he assumed. He had no idea how to handle this situation. If it would be anyone else, he would just leave and ignore the matter, but he wasn't able to do that with Bay. He couldn't bring himself to leave, he wanted to be here, but he didn't want to face the fallout of his actions. Hearing her yell and curse only confirmed to him that he really had fucked up and that things would be different now. _Shit, what if she kicks me out? What if she don't wanna be with me no more? This is why I never wanted a damn girlfriend to begin with. All this shit with all them damn feelings... Damn Bay, why you gotta be so hot? Why I gotta be such a damn weak idiot? _He really didn't know what to do, so when Bay came out of the bathroom, Daryl did the only right thing he could think of in that moment. He pretended to be asleep. _Good Lord, I'm pathetic._

Bay wasn't stupid. She didn't believe for one second that Daryl was truly asleep. For one, he never slept on his right side and his back turned on her. This was a conscious decision on his part to ignore her. "Awesome." she muttered grumpily, but she decided that two can play that game, so she didn't acknowledge him either while she slipped into bed next to him, turning her back on him as well. Being in her bed made her remember what had happened less than an hour earlier and it made the need that was still coursing through her veins stronger again. She sighed deeply and kept squirming and pressing her legs together, but to no avail. She soon slipped into an uneasy slumber and before long, her alarm went off. Daryl didn't stir while she got ready for work, not even when she threaded her fingers through his hair and kissed his cheek softly. She couldn't help it, she already missed him and his kisses and gentle touches and she wanted to be close to him. "Can we please just forget what happened and go back to right before it happened?" she murmured sadly and waited for a reaction, but nothing happened. "Alright. I'll see you tonight." she kissed his cheek once more and left. The door had barely closed behind her, when Daryl opened his eyes and released a deep sigh. _Why didn't I say anything? _He had no answer for himself. He hadn't been sure how to act. One thing was for sure though, he hated this weirdness between them, although he didn't realize that he was the one who was causing it. He decided that he would apologize that night and vowed to himself to not let things get so out of control again.

* * *

Bay was ecstatic when he came by Shoney's to eat after he had finished work. He was still unsure of how to act, so he only peeked up shyly at her through his blonde fringe. The way she was smiling at him made him relax a little. She really seemed to be completely normal again, like she really had forgotten about what he'd done. However he struggled with believing that everything truly was alright again. How can she forgive him so easily, if he had a hard time forgiving himself?

"Can we talk?" he asked when she brought him his food.

"Let's talk at home, okay? I'm thinking that it would be better to be safe from others listening to that particular conversation." Bay laughed softly and squeezed his shoulder before she left to pick up another order.

Daryl wanted to stick around until the end of her shift, but Bay soon sent him home, because she would be able to catch a ride with a colleague. Also she kind of liked when she came home and he was already waiting for her. She craved it after having come home to an empty and dark apartment for so long. When she came back she dropped her bag on the floor by the door and plopped down on the sofa-bed next to Daryl.

"Oh God, finally! My feet are killing me today." she was in good spirits though and was smiling while she said it.

"Come here." Daryl grabbed for her legs and pulled her feet into his lap to give her one of his awesome foot rubs.

"I didn't mean it like that." Bay laughed.

"I know." Daryl smiled slightly kneaded her foot with the best pressure ever.

"Mmmmmm... you're the best." Bay let her eyes fall shut with a moan and leaned her head back against the arm rest.

"I'm sorry." Daryl spoke after a couple of minutes of silence. "'bout last night, I mean."

"And which part of last night are you sorry for exactly?" Bay opened her eyes and looked at him curiously. Daryl blushed and he looked intently at her feet in his lap, so he wouldn't have to look at her face.

"You know..." he cleared his throat. "Ya tell me you ain't never done nothin' like this before and I... uh... didn't tell ya what could happen if ya... umm,... dry-hump me like that... "

"That's what it's called?" Bay giggled, because she thought it was a funny expression. Also, she was a little surprise that it actually had a name. "Dry-hump?"

"Yeah. It's like screwing, but without... you know... being inside ya..."

"And with clothes on."

"Right, but also works without clothes..." Daryl mumbled absently, in his mind he was already a step ahead and thinking about getting back to his apology, but Bay didn't let him. When he'd said that it also worked without clothes, she had immediately felt herself getting aroused again. She shivered and reflexively rubbed her goosebumps-covered arm.

"Really? W-without... clothes?" her eyes widened as she imagined what that would feel like. She was blushing while she was admitting it to herself, but that moment when she had felt his bare penis slide against her skin had felt incredible. It had her even more curious about seeing it, feeling it and exploring it, because it really had felt good. So hard and hot, but so soft at the same time. She got tingles in her belly when she remembered what it had been like, and the tingles intensified when she thought about having that feeling a little further down south.

"Yeah, but don't worry. Ain't gon' do that." Daryl tried to reassure her, but in all actuality, he was disappointing her with that bit of news.

"Oh..."

"Anyway, ummm... that's what I'm sorry for... that I didn't stop. I said I didn't wanna rush ya and I won't. Won't happen again." Daryl finally got out the rest of his explanation, glad to have it off his chest.

"That's not the part you have to be sorry for, Daryl." Bay said and made him frown.

"It ain't?"

"No. I promised you that I would say stop if it got too much for me to handle, right?"

"Yeah."

"So? Did I ask you to stop? Was I mad at you for... ummm... having an or-... umm... finishing?"

"Yeah, ya were."

"No I wasn't!" Bay looked at him in surprise. When in the world had he gotten the impression that she had been mad at him.

"Ya were, Bay! I heard ya in the bathroom." he told her and watched her eyes widen in shock.

"W-what exactly... did you hear?" _If he heard me trying to masturbate I will die on the spot._

"I heard ya yell..."

"Oh!" _Thank God._ "But that wasn't because I was mad at you, Daryl. That was something else."

"Yeah? What?" he looked at her suspiciously. Usually he wouldn't have thought much about her reply, but the crimson that was creeping into her cheeks and her startled gaze had him intrigued.

"It was nothing." She replied a little too quickly for his taste and fidgeted with the material of her black skirt in her lap. "Anyway, what I was hurt by was how you shrugged me off and ignored me right after... well, you know." Bay muttered while she focused on a loose thread at the seam of the skirt. "I,... You know I haven't done that before, so I don't know how obvious it was that I... um, quite enjoyed what we did... And it was a first time for me and I felt like I did something wrong, and kind of rejected when you checked out like that. It was frustrating."

"I'm sorry about that, too." It didn't sound too genuine, but Daryl still meant it. He was just a little distracted, because his mind was trying to figure out why she had yelled in the bathroom. Now that she had offered some more info about her enjoying the dry-humping and adding the word 'frustrating', an idea of why she had yelled was starting to form in his head, and that sure as hell didn't help him focus. It also made him realize something else, which made him feel like the worst boyfriend in the world. _I left her hanging... She was beggin' me for cryin' out loud and I left her hanging. Did ya try finishing the job yourself, sweetheart? _He knew he had no right thinking like that, but he hoped that she hadn't succeeded, if that was the case. He had his mind set on being the first and the only one to give her an orgasm. He didn't even want Bay herself to take that away from him, even though he deserved it after 'checking out' last night.

"I accept your apology, but please don't do it again? I wasn't mad and I didn't mind what happened." Bay reassured him, before she stammered, "I wouldn't mind if it happened again,... just so you know." she looked up at him shyly and burst out into a little laugh when she noticed his surprised expression. "Daryl, don't look so surprised. Just because I haven't done it before it doesn't mean that I'm not curious or that I don't want to do these things. I'm... okay that sounds stupid and I wanna slap myself for saying this out loud and please don't laugh, but, um... I'm **eager** to do these things with you..." she blushed hard and rubbed her face in an attempt to hide behind her hands for a couple of seconds. It was really tough to put yourself out there like that, but she wanted Daryl to know that he really didn't have to walk on eggshells around her where those things were concerned. Her grandmother had taught her to be honest and to be brave in the process, but that didn't mean that it came easy to her. However she was trying her hardest to keep up the values she had been taught. It would help to clear up any confusion about the situation, she was sure of that. Embarrassment would be a smile price to pay for her, in order for Daryl to have clarity on what she wanted.

Daryl had to fight a smirk. She was eager to do some exploring with him? _Aw shit, baby girl. I ain't never gon' get rid of ma damn boner now. _As much as her words made him proud and made his dick twitch in his boxers, he was also once more impressed by her courage to say these things to him. Daryl never would have admitted something like that out loud. He was grateful that she had, because it eased his mind and the nervousness he'd felt since last night, slowly left his body, now that he knew that she really wasn't mad and actually wanted this stuff to happen. "So that wasn't too fast for ya?"

"No. I was the one who started it, wasn't I? Even though I have to admit that I had no clue what exactly I had started back there. It felt so good, I just wasn't able to stop... so if anything I guess you could be mad at me for humping you like that." Bay laughed quietly and shook her head at herself.

"Nah,... liked it, too. _Obviously. Was so fucking hot, baby girl. Your damn hips can move._ He was still able to feel them undulate between his arm and his pelvis from when he had slung his arm around her and had pressed her harder against him.

"Okay, can we agree on something then? Can we agree once and for all that we will do whatever feels right and that we will stop the other if one of us isn't comfortable with something? And if no one says stop, we just keep going and know that it's okay? Honestly, I don't want to have this talk again and I don't want this weirdness between us every time something new happens. It's just awkward and I'm not good with awkward." Bay never wanted to talk about sex again. She was fine with taking the next steps with him, but she never ever wanted to talk about what they did and what they would be doing in the future. She was young and still clueless to the fact, that communication, especially in this area, was damn important, and Daryl was exactly the same way. He was only too glad to agree to her suggestion of never talking about it.

"Do stuff and never talk about it? Works for me." Daryl said and was relieved that this would be the last time they would have to discuss it. "Got a question, though."

"Okay, what?"

"What happened in the bathroom last night?" he asked and squinted his eyes at her as he studied her face that was flushing anew.

Bay laughed with embarrassment and tossed her pillow in his face. "Nothing! Not talking about it."

"Mhm..." The corners of Daryl's mouth were turned up in amusement. "**Nothing** happened?" he emphasized the first word and put more meaning into it, hoping she would get what he was asking.

"**Nothing**." Bay understood, at least she thought she understood what he was really asking. _Oh God, he knows... he's asking if I had an orgasm._

"Good." Daryl smirked and finally released her feet and scooted closer to her until she was sideways on his lap. It was time to really end all the talking now and use their mouths for better things. He sighed blissfully on the inside when he pressed his lips back to hers for the first time in 24 hours. It had been 24 hours too long. He teased the tip of his tongue along her lips until she parted them for him and his tongue slid home to mate with hers. Daryl soon guided her down on her back and removed the scarf from around her neck, before he joined her in the horizontal position. He gently tilted her head to the side and licked over the hickeys that were starting to change color and would soon fade. He decided that from now on he would leave them in places that only he would see so she wouldn't have to go to the trouble of wearing a scarf in the summer heat. Tonight he only gave her neck a short, little suck, which already had her gasping, before he moved his lips to the hollow between her clavicles, dipping his tongue in before he moved lower, right to the very end of the v-cut of her black top. He pushed her silver cross to the side and ever so slowly licked a long line starting at the valley of her breasts back up to the hollow of her throat, right along her scar, enjoying every single inch of skin he got to touch and taste. Next he licked his way up her throat, ending his tongue's journey with a soft kiss to her chin before he connected his lips back to hers and kissed her so passionately that she felt like she was drowning in him and held on to his shoulders for dear life. Daryl really was a very good kisser, which was funny, because he'd never really spent much time doing it with the few girls he'd been with.

As much as she hated it, Bay had to excuse herself a couple of minutes later to go to the bathroom. While she did her business and also changed out of her uniform and into her outfit for sleeping, Daryl used the opportunity to sit back up and light himself a cigarette. Bay came back a minute later and straddled his lap with a smile on her face. "Going to share?"

Instead of replying he held the cigarette up to her lips, loving the little shocks he received when Bay's lips touched his fingers. He watched her take a drag and inhale, and suddenly he had an idea. "Ya know how ta shotgun?"

"I do." Bay smiled and her reply excited him. He'd seen it in an adult movie once and he'd liked it and had wondered if he'd ever get to try. He took the next drag and put his hand on the back of Bay's neck to pull her closer. They both parted their lips and tilted their heads, so their mouths would fit together perfectly. Their lips were only very lightly touching as Daryl slowly exhaled and released the smoke to flow directly into Bay's waiting mouth while she inhaled. Like they knew what the other one was thinking, both their tongues moved and met in the middle, slowly and sensually flicking and circling each other before Bay pulled back and released the smoke from her own lungs. Daryl still held her while they looked at each other, both their eyes glazed over with lust. It had been a highly erotic moment for the both of them and if they would have been able to see it for themselves, they probably would have attacked each other right that moment. They repeated the shotgun kiss twice more, the tongue action getting longer and more urgent each time, until Daryl finally stubbed out the cigarette and pulled Bay to him all the way, teeth gnashing a little from the force he used, but neither of them minded. While they kissed Daryl's hands slid down Bay's back until they reached the hem of her tank top. He played with it for a moment, waiting for her to maybe guide his hands somewhere else, but when she kept her hands in his hair and kept kissing him, he slowly inched his fingertips underneath the cotton fabric to touch the warm, soft skin of her back. It reminded him of that one night when he had massaged her back and he realized how much he had missed feeling her skin underneath his fingertips.

Bay had missed feeling his hands on her, too. She enjoyed it immensely to have them stroke her back again, and the fact that he was starting to explore a little, gave her the confidence to do so as well. When they came up for air, she took her time peppering his neck with little kisses, gently nipping here and there, and loving how his breath hitched when she did it. She let her lips move to his shoulder, kissing and nuzzling the smooth skin, even pushing his black wife beater aside a little with her nose, so she would be able to kiss more of him. She soon ventured further down, tentatively licking along his collarbone, having him shudder and actually hiss a little, when she nipped at him. Since she hadn't complained yet, Daryl let his hands glide up her top even further, rubbing and stroking them up and down her back and gripping her shoulders when she started sucking on a spot just underneath his collarbone, giving him a new love bite. _If she gives me one there, I'm allowed to give her one there, too, right? _As soon as Bay released his skin, Daryl caught her lips with his and slowly lowered her on her back between his spread legs, while they kissed. He slid his hands out from underneath her top and supported himself on his hands on either side of her shoulders while he moved to his knees and hovered over her. Just like she had done a couple of minutes earlier, he let his lips and tongue travel down her neck. He kissed every single inch of skin of her upper chest that was exposed, until he moved to the side right side and towards the strap of her top. Bay's breath grew more labored when his mouth neared her breast again. She had been wanting to feel his hand on it for a while now, but she was still a little shy about guiding it there.

Daryl used his fingers to push the strap to the side, again moving slowly so she could stop him. She didn't, though and soon the strap was pushed off her shoulder and Daryl traced his fingertips along the swell of her breast, before he replaced them with his mouth, gently kissing the heavenly soft skin at the top of her breast. Feeling his fingers brush over the skin there, Bay's craving to feel his hand squeezing her was reaffirmed and she knew the only way he would do it was to show him what she wanted. Daryl started sucking a mark into her breast, knowing it was far enough to the side to not be visible in her work t-shirt. The lust that shot through her momentarily distracted her, as she threaded her fingers through his hair. Her hand was shaking slightly when she sought out and finally grabbed hold of his wrist and slowly pulled his hand back up to her chest. Daryl got the hint, and if he was surprised he didn't let it show, he just kept suckling at the supple skin of her breast. He couldn't lie, that she was still wearing her cross-necklace and that he felt it against his own skin while he was doing this to her, was a major turn on, and that she was now guiding his hand, showing him that she wanted him to touch her even more, that almost had him come undone.

_Ma good girl wants me ta make her feel good,... mmmmmm, sweetheart. Ya ain't got no clue what that does to me._ His arm got a little shaky, so he carefully lowered himself on top of her between her legs, but this time, due to his face being by her breast, their crotches didn't touch and he was able to grind his pelvis against the sofa-bed for some relief. The sofa-bed wasn't grinding back, so no danger of him losing control, he would be able to focus on her for now. He stopped suckling her skin, but only to move his lips a little further to the right to give her a second mark on her breast right away. While he let his tongue tease over her skin, his hand finally cupped her breast through the material of her top and gave her a light squeeze. Bay gasped and tightened her grip on both, his hair and on his wrist. Daryl halted for a moment, not sure if that had been a sign for him to stop or to keep going. "Want me to sto-" he didn't even get to finish his question.

"No! Keep going please." Bay murmured under her breath.

_With pleasure._ Daryl thought and closed his lips over her skin again and started sucking once more. While he did that, he experimentally let his thumb swipe over her nipple in a gentle caress, getting quite turned on by it in the process when he felt her immediate response, and pushed his dick against the bed a little harder. Bay, meanwhile, had felt the biggest shock of pleasure yet, when he had rubbed over her nipple, the sensations shooting straight to her center and making her buck her hips up against his belly involuntarily.

"Oh God..." she moaned helplessly. She was saying those words a lot lately, but it was all she was able to manage when Daryl did these things to her and with her. Daryl stopped sucking on her skin as a smile formed on his lips. She was so responsive, it was a dream come true. He lifted himself off of her and sat back down in his previous position. By laying on top of her he wasn't able to reach right, and he wanted to coax some more 'oh God' from her lips by exploring her breasts a bit more. They smiled at each other while he helped her up and positioned her back on his lap. They shared a sweet innocent kiss and just hugged for a moment, calming each other down, before it became too frantic and they risked a repeat performance of last night. After a having gotten some cuddling in, their mouths quickly found each other again and while they made out and their tongues were gliding and teasing, Daryl moved both his hands to her breasts, cupping them simultaneously and started playing with her a little bit. He tried squeezing and kneading with various amounts of pressure, finding out for the both of them what she liked. It made them realize that she had pretty sensitive breasts, because she liked every single one of his touches, gentle just as much as rough. He teased her nipples, trying slow circular motions, very light pinching and tugging, which had her moaning and gasping his name as she wriggled on his lap. He build up the intensity and when he started flicking his thumbs back and forth at a quick pace, he had her breathing harshly and erratically, gripping his shoulders hard as her hips rode the air above his lap, craving friction and getting none.

"Oh God,... oh God... oh God... " she moaned breathlessly, giving him his fix of what he'd wanted to hear. He loved how she trusted him so much, that she was able to let herself go like that. He really thought the whole thing between them would be a lot more awkward and tense. However, he wasn't sure if he would be able to let go like that if she was the one to explore him one day. He might actually be a lot more nervous when the time came, than she would be. Having him lay back and let her explore him would put him in a vulnerable position and so far he hadn't done well with those. On the other hand, the image of Bay curiously exploring his cock with her soft little fingers, and those full, pouty lips... _Shit... Gonna cum within two minutes when that happens._ He was on the verge of cumming right now, just thinking about it. Bay got him out of his own head a moment later, by softly placing her hands on top of his.

"Stop, please." Daryl looked at her in concern, but she was smiling. "It's good, but I can't take more right now..." The throbbing between her legs was becoming too much to handle again and today she didn't even want Daryl to take care of it. It was hard to explain, because last night she would have killed for him to bring her to orgasm, but tonight she was completely happy and comfortable with the intimacy they had shared and with the pace at which they were progressing. She didn't want to force anything. They shared a few more kisses before Daryl excused himself. He wanted to take a shower before bed, but of course getting clean wasn't the only thing on his mind. While a happy, but clueless Bay already laid down and waited for him, Daryl used a replay of their previous activities to take care of his raging erection, cumming hard when he thumbed his own nipple and heard her moans inside his head. Ten minutes later a happy and relaxed Daryl slipped into bed right next to her in nothing but his boxers, and gladly let her sleep in his arms again.

* * *

This became their routine for the next two weeks. Even though they had left that dry-humping incident behind them, it still made them keep things pretty innocent for the most part. After ten days Bay lost her shirt for the first time, but had kept on her bra. The day after that, she stopped wearing her shorts and got into bed with him just in her underwear. They became more and more comfortable with each other, unknowingly building more and more trust between them each day. They even started teasing each other a little outside of the sofa bed during mundane tasks like cleaning the bathroom and the kitchen. Bay had discovered that she was able to turn Daryl on extremely quick by raking her nails down his naked chest and belly, stopping just a second before her fingers would touch the waistband of his pants or boxers. It was full on summer now and Daryl often went shirtless and sometimes only in his boxers, and she absolutely loved it. She always had access to the hard planes of his body. She adored the differences between them and she found herself touching his upper body quite often, letting her hands glide up and down his strong arms, rubbing his smooth chest and tickling his flat belly. Sometimes Daryl would lay on his belly and would let her trace the lines of his back tattoo for an eternity, letting her elicit little shivers and goosebumps with her light touches, sometimes making him doze off happily. More often than not he was left with a painful hard-on, which he had to get rid off by himself. That he was so patient with her and never once complained or pushed made Bay even more comfortable around him. He was all she could have ever hoped for for a first boyfriend.

At the end of those two weeks Bay knew with absolute clarity that she wanted more. This time she was absolutely sober and clear and her want for more wasn't induced by the pleasure he was giving her. She wasn't ready to sleep with him, but she was ready to be with him in other ways. She wanted him close with absolutely no barriers between them. As stupid as it sounded to her own ears, she wanted to be naked with him. She wanted to feel his naked body on top of hers. She found herself fantasizing about taking baths and showers with him, about naked cuddling and about that naked dry-humping he had talked about. She wanted to touch and explore the rest of him and she wanted him to touch and explore the rest of her body. Just thinking about it had her insides quiver. Yep, she was more than ready. She was only waiting for the next weekend to roll around, because she wanted them to have all the time in the world, because saying goodbye in the mornings and having to wait 14 hours until they would see each other again, was torture. She wanted to enjoy a full weekend of new things with him before that stupid work week would start up again and she had high hopes, that she maybe would get to experience her first orgasm that weekend. But even if that wouldn't be in the cards, she definitely wanted to help Daryl achieve one. It was one of her biggest fantasies to feel him orgasm on top of her again. She couldn't wait and she really hoped he would be on board with all of it.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**We might be seeing mostly exploration/smut filled chapters for the next couple of chapters, not sure yet, they have a mind of their own and often change my plans.**

**I'm sorry I've been bad about replying to reviews for the last chapter. I've had a busy two days and I poured all my time into this so you wouldn't have to wait too long;-) Forgive me, I will pick up replying again with this one:) However i want to give a quick shoutout to my lovely reviewers:  
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	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

Finally it was Friday and Bay was in high spirits. She liked working at Shoney's, even though her feet hurt every night, but it wasn't nearly as bad as what the job at the carpet mill had done to her body. Also, she had Daryl who gladly gave her foot rubs every night without her even asking for it. He was so sweet. The customers at the restaurant had taken a liking to her, too, and Bay was making good tips, so that she made the same money as before. On a good week she had even made a little bit more. She was insanely happy that the timing had been so perfect. When she had first applied for a waitress job, nobody had hired and so she had begged for the job at the carpet factory, in order to have a second income at all. Now things were so much better, she had two jobs she actually liked, she had a wonderful, sweet, hot, cute and funny (yes, Daryl can actually be funny in his dry and quick-witted way) boyfriend, who she might or might not be falling in love with, and she was back in touch with her friends and spent some time with Erin at least once a week. If she wouldn't want to jinx herself, she would almost dare to say that things were perfect.

Her good mood got a little damper, however, when she noticed Daryl's expression the second she entered the apartment. "Hey. What's wrong?"

Daryl looked up at her in surprise. _How the hell she able to tell?_ He wasn't completely used to Bay knowing him pretty well by now, yet. Nobody had really ever cared enough about him to take the time and study his facial expressions, so they knew when something was wrong with him. Nobody except for Bay. _She's damn fucking awesome. _He tilted his face up to meet hers for a little kiss, before he breathed out his reply with a deep sigh. "I'm out of a job again."

"Oh, I'm sorry. Did you guys finish the project already?" Bay asked while she put her bag away and changed out of her uniform. Now that he'd already seen her in underwear a couple of times, there was no need to go and do it in the bathroom anymore. She still kept forgetting that Daryl had already seen her bare breasts before, so there probably had never been any real need for her to go to the bathroom to change.

"Yeah. Guess we worked too well." Daryl leaned back with his arms crossed behind his head and watched her get undressed.

"You'll find something else. You always do, don't you?"

"Right... still..."

"I know. You're sad, huh? You liked that job." Bay slipped on an oversized t-shirt and then removed her bra, making Daryl lick his lips when the shirt fell off her now bare and enticingly tanned shoulder. When she was done she climbed on his lap and kissed him sweetly. "Wasn't so bad to do the same job every day after all, was it?"

"Nah, it was okay. Was nice not worrying about money for a couple of weeks." Daryl mumbled while he stared at her shoulder. He couldn't help it, as soon as he had finished his sentence, he had to lean in and taste her.

"I get that." Bay shuddered slightly when he kissed and licked along her clavicle before giving it a little nip. "Try to see it this way, you were so good at it, that you finished early. That's a great testament to your skills and work ethic." Bay smiled, trying to see the upside to the whole thing, making Daryl laugh against her shoulder.

"Yer too damn positive, Bay."

"No, I'm just the right amount of positive. And I know you'll find something else. Maybe you should ask John for a recommendation. I mean, in case you wanna try and get a steady job somewhere else."

"Maybe." Daryl nodded. "Gotta do something. Don't know how much cash I can contribute until then." he bit his lip nervously, hoping she wouldn't get upset at that.

"Don't worry. We still have some of the things you got for us. We'll ration better and if all else fails..."

"Don't say it." he groaned.

"There's still our favorite, for free noodles." Bay laughed when he shuddered

"Hell naaaawww! Ain't gon' have ya go back to eatin' that crap." he looked at her sternly. "I swear, if ya come home with those, I'll toss 'em out the window. Ya been lookin' a whole lot better since you been eating right."

"I won't get them, I promise." she giggled and sealed the promise with a kiss.

"Gotta work something out. Can't go without your cooking for long."

"We'll make it work. So, to save up some meat, we should have just the baked potatoes with sour cream tonight. Agreed?" She had to laugh again when Daryl sighed deeply in disappointment.

"I guess..." he looked like a pouting little boy. It was adorable. Bay kissed him one more time before she climbed off his lap again and went to prepare their dinner.

Daryl had been looking forward to steak, but at least the potatoes had been tasty and filling and they wouldn't have to go to bed hungry. However, after dinner his mood was still a bit down in the dumps. Not exactly what Bay had been hoping for, but she understood him perfectly. She'd be sad too if she would have to quit one of her jobs right now. "Anything I can do to cheer you up?" she asked when they were back on the sofa-bed after dinner. Daryl just shrugged sullenly in reply. It hurt her heart to see him so disappointed and brooding, so she used her icy toe to poke him in the ribs, shocking him with the cold and with tickling at the same time.

"Hey! Stop that!" he jerked and tried catching her foot when she moved it in circles around his hand. Well, he did not really try to catch it, because if he would really want to, he would have had it on the first try.

"Nope, not gonna stop until you stop brooding! Poke, poke, poke." Bay giggled and pushed her toe into his ribs three times, absolutely elated when she was able to make him laugh and he finally grasped her foot.

"Stop, or want me ta put ma shirt back on?" he narrowed his eyes at her with an amused smirk, by now knowing exactly how much she enjoyed the view.

"Oh God no... I'll be good!" she smiled and got on her knees to scoot closer to him and straddle his lap. She gently put both hands on either side of his face and kissed him gently. "Don't worry, okay? You've always been fine before and you'll be fine again."

"Not just 'bout me anymore..." he murmured quietly while gazing into her eyes. He wasn't overly worried about himself, he would get by with odd jobs, but he was worried about losing what they'd built over the past couple of weeks. It had been almost like a little family. Both of them living in this apartment, both working steady jobs, Daryl providing food, both of them throwing their money in the same pot and buying the other things they needed at the store, Bay cooking for him at night while he held her from behind and watched her... He didn't want to have to go back to them having to eat TV dinners or those horrible shrimp-cheese-whatever noodles. He didn't want to loose that feeling of finally having something great and completely normal.

"Daryl, listen to me. We will be fine. If money gets tight I still have other options to help out."

"Like what?" Daryl frowned, somehow not liking the sound of other options.

"I can donate blood, I can do babysitting on the weekend to get some extra cash,... there is always a way. Don't stress out." Bay smiled and placed gentle kisses all around his face, trying to get him out of his dark mood once and for all.

_Don't want you to do all the work. Ain't never gonna see ya if ya do all that._ That was not what he wanted. He wanted to keep what they had and not have her take on more jobs. In that moment Daryl realized what he had to do. He had to clean up his act once and for all and pound the pavement to find another job. A real, steady job, and he'd start looking first thing in the morning. Needless to say, Bay's plan didn't work out the way she had hoped. He was distracted on Friday night and she soon gave up coaxing him into more than a few kisses.

Saturday morning she was surprised as hell when she opened her eyes and saw Daryl already putting his Converse sneakers on. "Where are you going?"

"I'm gonna find another job." he replied while he tied his laces.

"But... the weekend..." Bay trailed off as her mind raced and her hopes shattered a little.

"I know, but I gotta do this. Can't stop thinking about it." _If she can find work in just a day, so can I!_ He was dead-set on it. He'd do pretty much anything at this point, except for taking a job at that damn carpet mill. He hated that place with a vengeance. After giving a sleepy Bay a kiss goodbye, Daryl left and got into his truck. He had no real idea of where to go or how to start. He would really like to keep working for John, because he had liked working with his hands and help build things. He decided to pay John another visit. Even if he had to let Daryl go, maybe he knew of somebody else who was hiring.

John was really sorry about not being able to keep Daryl on, but he usually didn't work on big projects like the last one and didn't have the money to keep paying him. Still, he was able to supply Daryl with the address of a friend of his, a cabinetmaker, who could use some help around his shop, since his previous assistant was going off to college. Daryl thanked John and jogged back to his truck, immediately taking off towards the address his former boss had given him. Helping out a cabinetmaker sounded right up his alley and John promised he would call ahead and recommend Daryl for the job. He sure hoped he would get it, at the same time he kept thinking, why he'd never tried to get a real job before. Even with his famous last name, it hadn't been too hard. He chalked it up to never being taught to take on too much responsibility and also to never having had the right motivation before. He had that now. Bay and a life with her was motivation enough to make him put on his big boy pants and stop drifting around like his brother had taught him to do. He knew it was still pretty soon to think like that, but having Bay in his life and kind of building a little bit of a life with her was the one thing he wanted out of life right now and he would try his hardest to not fuck it up.

* * *

"You're back already?" Bay was stunned, and kind of unprepared as she stood in the living room dressed in just a tiny towel. She had used Daryl's absence to take a bath and shave, just in case Daryl would get to see **that** part of her this weekend after all. "And you are smiling! Did you really find a job? In under two hours?"

"What? You didn't think I'd be able ta do it?" he asked with a little laugh, desperately trying not to stare too much at her. Somehow seeing her in underwear and seeing her covered in only a small towel were very different. Just one wrong move and she would be completely bare to his hungry eyes. He felt his cock stirring inside his pants already.

"Nonsense." she smiled as she walked up to him and gently put one hand to his face to pull him down for a kiss. "I think you can do anything if you set your mind to it. What kind of job is it?"

"Imma help out in the shop of a cabinetmaker. He's a friend of John's and the guy who's helpin' him out right now is leaving for college. I don't start until Thursday, but still... if I'm good enough and I like it, he might even train me."

"Wow, that's awesome, Daryl. I'm happy for you."

"Are ya proud?" he asked and surprised himself, because he had no idea where that question had come from.

"Absolutely. I'm proud and impressed and really happy for you. I think you will do just great. You made these two tables for us... that guy will be lucky to have you."

_She's the best._ Daryl loved how she believed in him and how she was really proud of him for finding a new job. He wished he would always be able to make her look at him like she was now, with that big, happy smile and a warm glow in her eyes. He put his hands on her waist and pulled her a little closer while he kissed her playfully. "What have you been doing?"

"Pretty much nothing. Just took a bath." she murmured between kisses. "Was just about to get dressed."

"Should let ya get to it..." he said under his breath, before he kissed her again, teasing her lips with the tip of his tongue.

"Nu-uh..." Bay shook her head slightly after she had let her tongue flick against his for a second. "Missed you."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm!" she let her tongue push past his and into his mouth, kissing him deeply. She swore she felt Daryl sigh into her mouth as his hands grew restless and started roaming her back. He was careful, but Bay still felt the towel loosen, where she was pushing herself against his chest. She knew that it was now or never, and the thought robbed her breath and made her heart race. She wanted this, but it didn't mean that she wasn't nervous. To help out with that, Bay grabbed the soft fabric of his black, sleeveless t-shirt and started pulling it up. If she was going to be naked, he could at least be topless. Daryl helped her and rid himself of the offending garment, tossing it to the floor carelessly as he quickly attached his lips back to hers. Bay went up on her tip-toes and reached her arms up to wrap them around his neck, loosening the knot, which held the towel up around her body, even further and when Daryl let his hands glide up her back, it happened. Bay held her breath as her heart hammered inside her chest. Daryl felt the towel fall, he suddenly felt the heat of her skin close to his own and he quickly grabbed the towel in his hands before it was able to drop completely and pushed it back up and tried it to wrap it back around her.

"Sorry." he breathed as his pulse quickened, trying his hardest not to look down at her naked form. He didn't have to try for long, as Bay quickly kissed him again. He was surprised and excited as hell when she grabbed hold of his wrists and slowly pushed them down, silently telling him to let it drop. Daryl swallowed hard. _Oh shit... oh shit... oh shit... _While he let the towel fall to the floor, Bay's hands trailed down his chest, down his belly and even lower. He felt them shaking when she started fumbling with the button and zipper of his pants. _Shitshitshitshitshit... this is happenin'... _he tried to control his pulsing dick, but it was of no use and he felt his underwear getting tighter. This time it was him who gripped her wrists and pulled her hands away, but only to help her out again and finish opening his pants. He pushed them down, but kept his boxers on, and while they slid down his legs to pool around his ankles, Daryl wrapped his arms around his girlfriend and pulled her naked form flush against him. He groaned low in the back of his throat, when he felt her perky breasts pressed against his naked chest for the very first time. He stroked his hands up to her shoulders, lightly digging his fingertips into her skin for a moment while he tried to gather his bearings a little bit. His mind was spinning with this new situation and with all the things he wanted to do with her, and for a second he didn't even know where to start.

Bay shivered when she felt the warm, solid bulge in his boxer shorts press firmly into her belly. She was beyond curious about it and she hoped she would be able to come up with the courage to touch it and hopefully make him feel good. She was so nervous, she felt like she was even more sensitive than usual, because Daryl's touch felt ten times more electrifying. He was leaving goosebumps in his wake as he slowly dragged his hands lower, enjoying feeling every bit of soft, warm skin underneath his palms. Ever so slowly his fingers inched lower and lower until his hands were cupping her bare ass cheeks. He held her like that for a moment, letting his thumbs rub over the incredibly soft skin, then he gave in to his urges and gave her a hard squeeze, knowing that she loved having her butt grabbed like that. What happened next made Daryl realize how much smaller than him Bay truly was and how big his hands were compared to her small built... how much bigger **everything **was compared to her lithe frame, because as he readjusted his grip on her butt to squeeze it, his fingertips were already brushing lightly across her opening. Bay jumped and gasped in pleasurable shock, not having anticipated feeling his fingers there just yet. Daryl didn't miss a beat and lifted Bay up by her ass, having her wrap her long, slim legs around his waist.

Daryl awkwardly shuffled them towards the bed, trying not to fall, because he was still wearing his sneakers and his pants were pooled around his ankles, getting him dangerously close to stumbling. As soon as he felt the edge of the sofabed hit his shins, Daryl carefully set Bay down in the middle of it and pulled his lips from hers. "Hold on." he breathed and sat down on the edge with his back to her, to unlace his sneakers and pull them off, along with his socks and pants. Bay had the strong urge to shield herself from his curious, hungry eyes, but she fought that urge with all she had. She succeeded in not crossing her arms over her chest, but she did clamp her legs together and bend her knees, while a blush spread on her face. When Daryl was done and turned back around to face her, he made the effort of not staring at her right away. He scooted up to her on his side and kissed her passionately to distract her a little from her embarrassment. He put his hand to the side of her throat, his thumb tracing her jawline while they kissed and only when he felt her relax again, did he slowly move his hand lower. He was able to feel her rapid heartbeat when he got closer to her left breast, poor thing was shaking, too, but he knew that she would stop him if she would want to, so he slowly proceeded with his exploration of her naked body. His hand closed over her soft breast and immediately he felt the soft nipple pebble underneath his palm, the hardened peak now poking his hand as he massaged the round globe firmly. Bay's kisses grew more urgent as she arched her back and pushed her breast further into his hand. Daryl smiled into the kiss before he pulled away and nuzzled her for a second. He needed to see her now, he couldn't wait any longer.

"We can stop." he murmured when he felt her breathing pick up and her shaking get more intense.

"No, I don't want to stop. I want this. I'm just nervous. Keep going." she smiled encouragingly and kissed him hard one more time before she released him and laid back with her arms by her side.

Daryl trailed his index finger along her jaw, down her neck and slowly down to her chest, following it with his eyes. He reached the top of the scar and traced it down to the valley between her breasts, finally laying eyes on her beautiful boobs again. _They're fucking perfect. _They looked as round and perky as he remembered them. His eyes flicked down between her legs for a quick look, happy to see that she wasn't bald, but that was already all he was able to see for the time being, because she had her legs pressed together. His hand ventured back to her left breast, while his head dipped down to her right one. Parting his lips, he let his tongue slip out and lave her nipple while his fingers gently pinched the other one, drawing the most delicious moan from Bay. He fought a smirk, instead he closed his lips around the rosy peak and started suckling, having her gasp and moan his name, and loving how responsive she was. One of her hands went to the back of his head, fisting his soft blonde strands and pulling on them a little, making him groan in the back of his throat. Just like he had done with his hands, he started experimenting with his mouth, gently biting and tugging at her stiff nipple, trying to find out what she liked and once again being excited, that she seemed to love freaking everything he did. Every little ministration of his was pulling breathy whispers, moans and gasps from her, soon having his dick throb painfully inside his boxers.

Before he was able to let his hand wander further down, Bay was trying to push him on his back, wanting her turn now. She had already explored his body over the past couple of weeks, the only thing she hadn't explored yet, was his manhood. A fact, Daryl became increasingly aware of as she slid her hand over his belly and down towards his boxers. Usually she used to stop just before she would reach the waistband, but this time, she slid her hands down a little further, until the fingertips of her shaky hand rested right on top of it. That's where she hesitated, waiting for his approval to keep going. She didn't have to wait very long. Daryl gently put his hand on top of hers and guided it lower and a bit to the side, where his still covered, stiff cock was hot, pulsing and waiting for her touch. He lightly curled her fingers around him before he removed his hand, his breath turning a bit labored as he waited for her next course of action.

Bay had a hard time not snapping her eyes open and breaking their kiss in shock. He had felt big pressed against her, but now that she had him in her hand, she **knew** that he really was quite big. The fabric bothered her, she wanted to feel him for real, to see him and find out what she was really dealing with. "Can we... umm..." She removed her hand from his length and gently tugged at the boxers. "Can we get rid of these?" she asked timidly and bit her lip while she waited for his response.

_It really is happening... Fuck me, I'm gonna cum so damn fast..._ Daryl thought as he slowly nodded and helped her to rid him of his last piece of clothing. When his impressive cock sprang free, the swollen tip bumping his belly just underneath his belly button, he noticed Bay's eyes widen noticeably. This time she wasn't able to hide her shock, and it made Daryl feel proud and nervous at the same time. He didn't want her to be scared of or repulsed by it. He wasn't able to detect either of those emotions in her expression. Mostly, she just looked surprised and a little intrigued if he wasn't mistaken. Bay took a deep breath to gather some courage and carefully wrapped her hand around him again, marveling how he felt in her hand. The skin was so soft, which contradicted so much with the hardness she also felt. It was like a rock that was covered in velvet. She liked it, and she didn't even notice that she was smiling slightly as she looked at him. He was quite thick, much bigger than she had anticipated, and it was a little intimidating, but she found herself thinking of his thingy as beautiful and the big pull of arousal inside her center told her, that she really was very attracted to it and enjoyed looking at it and holding it.

Daryl gripped the sheets so hard that his knuckles had turned white as she experimentally let her thumb rub up towards the tip as far as it would go and back down. Her tentative exploration was a big turn on and her wondrous expression when she felt his dick jump in her palm, really was a sight to see. Right now she didn't seem nervous, she seemed excited and curious and it was killing him. Bay thought back to all the sex tips she had read in the magazines by now, she knew she was supposed to move her hand up and down, so she did. She tightened her grip a little bit and tentatively moved her hand up slowly. Daryl groaned low in his throat and gripped the sheets, that covered the sofa-bed, even tighter. It felt so fucking good, he thought he might just go out of his mind if he didn't get off soon. It was so much better than it's ever been before. Her touch felt incredibly intense to him, even though it was still very soft and hesitant. She slowly and experimentally stroked her hand back down, then up again and he felt the familiar warmth spreading through his lower regions and a moment later, a drop of pre-cum formed at the little slit, moistening the throbbing tip as it slowly started to slide down the underside of the mushroom-shaped head. Bay caught the drop of moisture with her fingers on the next upward stroke, taking note of how much easier her fingers slipped across his skin with the added lubrication. Without knowing what she was really doing, she held her hand still and just softly rubbed the pads of her fore- and middle finger along the wet trail his pre-cum had left. Unknowingly she massaged the little bit of fluid into one of his most sensitive spots, that little strip of skin that connected his shaft to the head of his dick. Daryl hissed and jerked harshly when she proceeded to rub a little circle against the underside of his swollen glans and back down to the frenulum, making him release even more pre-cum. His dick was throbbing and twitching so hard that it was starting to turn painful, her explorations were seriously driving him insane, but in the absolute best way. He never wanted the sweet torture to stop. His reaction tore Bay out of her little world she had been in and she grew a little nervous, not knowing if he really liked it or what she should do now.

"I-is..." she blushed and barely dared to look up to his face. "Am I doing this right? W-what do I do...?" before Daryl was able to say anything, Bay got distracted when she noticed his balls. _Play with his balls. That's what the article and Erin said._ Bay adjusted her position so she would be able to use both hands comfortably and carefully cupped his tight balls in her left hand and let her thumb rub over the slightly wrinkled, but soft, skin.

"Mmmm... fuck... yeah, do that..." Daryl gasped. "Don't stop." he instructed and gently grabbed her other hand in his and wrapped it back around his dick, showing her how firm he liked to have it gripped. "Just move it... like before... little faster..." he murmured under labored breath and released her hand again, letting her work her innocent magic. Bay nodded and focused fully on the task at hand. It wasn't a chore, though. Even though she was still a bit nervous, she had fun, she liked what she was doing and she was surprised that it really aroused her to the point that she had to press her legs together, because that torturous throbbing was back. She acted on instinct and just gently started to feel up his balls a little, rolling and gently massaging them in her palm, while her other hand worked his big, hard erection. It was so heavy, but it felt really good to have that solid weight resting in her palm. She startled slightly when Daryl released a long groan and gripped his own hair with both hands, like he was trying to hold on to his sanity.

"Fuck... right there, Bay..." her thumb had rubbed along the underside of his head again, more by accident, but now that she knew he liked that, she tried to do it deliberately on every other stroke, making him squirm and groan, which gave her a bit of a rush and she felt powerful, for lack of a better word. She was able to make him feel good, and she was damn proud of it. The nice thing was, that giving him a handjob was distracting her from her own nudity and so Daryl was able to admire nude form while she knelt by his hip and stroked him towards what promised to be a mind-blowing orgasm. He reached out and grabbed hold of one of her tits, squeezing and frantically rolling and pinching her nipple between his fingers, eliciting shudders and moans from his girlfriend. At the same time, it made her move her hands faster as her own pleasure spiked a bit, and Daryl was ready to blow. He put his free hand on top of hers again and guided it to stroke him harder and faster, teaching her how to give him the maximum amount of pleasure that would send him over the edge. Just a moment later she felt Daryl's turgid length contract and spasm and then the first spurt of his load hit their joined hands. Daryl was breathing fast and harshly, releasing little grunts during his release, while he kept moving their hands, but slowed down the pace as the next spurts hit his belly and chest. Soon his whole body relaxed and his hands fell to his sides, while Bay looked at his naked, sated form in complete awe. She had never seen anything better than Daryl's naked body, and she certainly had never seen anything more fascinating than Daryl having an orgasm and cumming all over their hands and himself.

"I wanna do that again." Bay said without thinking and with the biggest smile on her face. Daryl looked at her in surprise, before he laughed happily and pulled her down to lay next to him. With his arm around her shoulders he pulled her closer, putting his other hand to her face to hold her close while he kissed her deeply, trying to put all kinds of emotions into the kiss as his tongue massaged hers. Bay held on to his wrist with one hand, squeezing it as she kissed him back and enjoyed his post-coital happiness with him.

"Ya liked doing that?" he murmured with a smile while he nuzzled her nose.

"Very much." she grinned with an adorable blush tinting her cheeks a rosy color.

"Well damn... we ain't ever gon' leave this bed then, I reckon." he chuckled.

"At least not today." She laughed. "I have work tomorrow, while you have time off until Thursday."

"Call in sick." he suggested and was absolutely serious. Now that he had tasted blood, he wanted much, much more of what they had just done. Staying in bed until Thursday morning would be absolutely perfect.

"No way." she sighed. "It's tempting, but no way." she smiled as a gentle shudder shook her body, because Daryl was caressing her arm and shoulder, and it tickled a little.

"Come on..." he coaxed and let his lips travel to her neck to give her a little nip. He turned on his side a little to face her and let his hand roam to her breasts, massaging and teasing her hardening nipple.

"Mary would have to do a double at the store and find a babysitter for her kids... I can't do that to her, it's not right." Bay breathed deeply as her eyes fell shut. Daryl's lips were traveling further down and kissing her breast all over.

"Then call in sick at the restaurant." he chuckled just before he found a good spot next to her nipple and started sucking to give her a new mark.

"Can't. What if someone from the restaurant comes into the store? Too ris- ooohhhh..." she moaned and gripped his hair when he sucked stronger all the while flicking both her nipples with his thumbs, making heat pool between her legs once again. The discussion was over, Daryl knew she would never go for it and also, there were more important things to take care of right now. He'd left her hanging once and he would not do it again.

When he had her panting and moaning his name he let rolled her on her back and let his right hand travel down her belly and to the side. He pulled his mouth away from her breast and looked down to where his hand sliding along her waist. He was in love with her body. She was so slim, but she had these cute little love-handles and he could not adore them more. He loved holding on to them or caressing them with his hands and lips, and he loved watching his own hands on them. He spent a moment stroking his hand over her side before he let it glide lower over her hip and her thigh. When he reached her knee, he slowly slid his hand to the inside and let it glide back up the inside of her thigh, gently parting her legs. He felt her starting to shake again and he was nervous, too, but this was a moment he'd fantasized about very often and he didn't really have the wherewithal to calm her down. Her legs fell open and he finally got to see all of her. His mouth watered and his finger were itching to touch. _Pretties pussy I ever saw. All mine. Nobody else but me gets to play with you, baby girl. _The thought made him growl quietly and he watched his hand slide up the rest of the way before they finally made contact. Both of them shivered and Daryl cupped her sex in his big hand while he tried to drown out the sound of his blood rushing in his ears. For a moment he lost his nerve a little bit, because this was new to him as well. He had seen tons of movies and looked at magazines, he knew what to do, but he'd never done it before and was worried that he wouldn't be able to make her cum. _Nut up, man, _he told himself and took a deep breath to center himself again. Slowly he started moving his hand again, letting his fingertips stroke over her soft pussy lips and up to her trimmed strip of pubic hair, rubbing his thumb through it, before his fingers trailed back down again, until he felt her opening. He was excited when he felt that she was wet, it meant he was doing something right. He kept himself from plunging his finger inside of her right away, instead he traced his fingers up her slit, looking for her clit. His mind was spinning and he noticed that his breathing had picked up speed and that need was starting to throb in his loins again. He understood where Bay was coming from, telling him that she had liked giving him a handjob. He was already addicted to her pussy and he had barely touched it yet.

Bay was shaking like a leaf, but it wasn't nervousness anymore, it was from excitement and very strong arousal. This was what she had needed those times she had tried to get herself off. She needed Daryl's touch to get there. She had never felt anything like it, she felt like she was burning up, sweat was breaking out on her skin and covered her in a fine sheen, making her look even more enticing, and she also felt like she was dying if Daryl wouldn't help her find her release soon.

"Oh God!" this time it was her turn to grip the sheets. Daryl had found her clit and was now pressing down on it and moving his fingers in a circular motion. "Oh God... oh God... Oh Daryl! Ohgodohgodohgod... she was stemming her feet into the sofa and instinctively grinding herself harder against his fingers. Without removing his fingers, Daryl sat up next to her, just like she had earlier, wanting to get the full visual and also in order to be able to use both hands. She looked so damn sexy, her head lolling from side to side on the pillow, sweat covering her body, her small fists holding on tight to the sheets, her hips undulating and moving against his fingers wantonly and all that with that damn silver cross resting between her breasts, reminding him that she was his good little baby girl. His good little baby girl that desperately wanted him to give her an orgasm. He was painfully hard again.

She moaned in frustration when he changed hands and she lost his touch for a second, making Daryl chuckle proudly, that she was craving him like that. He kept on rubbing her with his left hand while the middle finger of his right hand sought out her opening again. Bay's breath hitched and she stilled all her movement when he slowly and carefully pushed it in, penetrating her for the very first time ever. _Holy fucking mother of God! Tight... fuck, so goddamn tight. _It shouldn't have been a surprise, but it still made his brain melt a little. The caveman inside of him was doing a happy dance at being the first and only one to be inside of her and his cock started weeping pre-cum when he thought about pushing it into that tight passage of hers. The thought of deflowering and stretching her turned him on way more than it should, he was sure of that, but at the same time there was a sliver of fear mixed in with all that primal urge shit. He was big and she was so goddamn tiny,... he'd do his best to prepare her and get her going when the time came, but the fear of hurting her was still there.

He moved his finger a little deeper until it was fully embedded inside of her, then he pulled it back out before pushing it inside again, slowly starting to finger-fuck her. Bay quickly got used to the new feeling and in combination with having him rub her clit, it felt absolutely fantastic. She soon started moving her hips again, grinding herself against him, unknowingly guiding him by the way she moved. As her movements got faster and more frantic, he started rubbing her harder and fingering her faster. He knew she was close, because she had started clenching around his finger and the way she was starting to pant and chant his name, her voice full of need. He added a second finger and almost spontaneously combusted when Bay released a little shout and arched her neck and her back, pushing down on his fingers hard. He fucking loved that she let herself go with him like this, it made this whole thing so much easier and so much sexier and more fun.

"Don't stop, don't stop, don't stop..." she chanted desperately, as she felt the pressure building more and more. Her hips rose off the bed and her whole body started to tense, like a string that was being pulled as taut as possible, and then everything stilled, both of them holding their breaths, Bay being completely still while Daryl's fingers kept working her. And then the string snapped and Bay came undone. Daryl thought she might scream, but she didn't, simply because she didn't have the oxygen left to scream, but with every sharp exhale she released a moan that sounded so much different from her previous ones. They were no longer needy, these ones were ecstatic, low, guttural and seemed almost freeing for her as she finally let go of all that tension that had built in side of her pretty much from the day she had realized that she wanted him. Her orgasm was intense and Daryl was able to tell by the way she just kept contracting around his fingers all the while wetting his hand with a little gush of liquid arousal. He thought that was a good sign and he couldn't help the goofy and proud grin that was forming on his lips. He did it and it had been better than he'd ever imagined. Bay coming apart was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard and seen.

When he felt her calm, he slowly withdrew his fingers and quickly wiped his hand on the sheet before he laid back down with her and pulled her into his arms. "Holy shit!" Bay laughed under her breath, making Daryl's grin widen.

"That good that I have ya swearin'?"

"Hell yeah." she giggled and hid her happy face behind her hands for a moment. "Wow... I figured it would feel good, but this... wow." She removed her hands, showing him her flushed face and her big, happy grin. "You're amazing."

"So are you." he smiled and kissed her gently. He wrapped his arms around her and rolled himself on his back with her. Bay was ready to cuddle into his side and close her eyes for a moment, but then her leg brushed his erection. She looked at him with a surprised expression and bit her lip with a grin.

"Can I...?" she asked as she let her hand wrap around him, wanting to give him another handjob and another orgasm.

"Hell yeah." he grinned, thinking that he was the luckiest fool on the whole damn planet, as she started stroking him.

* * *

Daryl hadn't wanted to leave her side, but when he had freshened up in the bathroom after a little nap, he had realized that he was out of clean underwear. He still had some stuff at Patrick's, so later that night when Bay cooked dinner, Daryl got in his truck to make a quick trip over to his best friend's apartment, to pick up the rest of his stuff. He figured he wouldn't stay there anymore, unless Bay kicked him out, and he would try his hardest to not let that happen.

Before he entered he listened at the door, not wanting to walk in on any of their sexual activities, but when he was met with silence, he opened the door with his key and was relieved to find the apartment dark and empty. He switched on the light in the living room and went to the kitchen to grab a plastic bag from one of the drawers. He stuffed all his remaining things into the bag and found himself smiling while he did it. This was the happiest he had ever been. Bay was the best. She was the coolest. She was the sweetest. She was the sexiest and the prettiest. And she was all his.

He was just about to stuff some meat from the freezer into another plastic bag, because Patrick wouldn't need all of it for himself, when he heard a loud knock on the door. It wasn't unusual, people did stop by occasionally, but Daryl frowned anyway, because he wasn't in the mood for socializing. He wanted to get back to Bay as quickly as possible. He took the meat he wanted and closed the freezer, before he walked up to the door and yanked it open. "What?" he grunted, before he froze with wide eyes. _SHIT!_

"Ha, knew I'd find ya here! Miss me, baby brother?"

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Wow, you guys... THANK YOU for those wonderful reviews. Please don't ever stop, they are wonderfully inspiring and amazing to read. Thank you also to everybody who is giving my little story a chance and actually follows and favorited.**

**If you are a smut head like me, stop by his-walls dot tumblr dot com for some visuals and Reedus-goodness. **

**Snowbird: I hope the slots didn't make you go bankrupt, lol. Thank you for your wonderful review. And I agree, how awesome would it be to have Bay on the show, lol, but it will never happen. However, she will be alive and well in this story which I hopefully will be able to continue for a very long time. I hope you enjoyed Bay and Daryl's newest round of exploration. I'm sure now that both of them tasted blood, there will be more to come. Much much love to you and a wonderful rest of the weekend.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

"You're back..." Daryl stated the obvious. He was shocked. In the past two months he had been so involved in denying that he had feelings for Bay, before ultimately getting together with her, that he hadn't wasted a single thought on his older brother, or the fact that Merle would come back at any time. Actually he had been supposed to be back a couple of weeks ago, now that Daryl thought about it.

"What's that?" Merle eyed the bags in Daryl's hands, seeing clothes peek out . "You comin' or you goin'?"

Daryl looked down at the plastic bags in his hands and chewed on his lip nervously, not even stopping when he answered Merle's question. "Going."

"Got a place for us? Or your boyfriend kick ya out so he can fuck that lil' spitfire of his without ya playing Peepin' Tom?" Merle chuckled. He always thought of himself as extremely funny.

Daryl shook his head awkwardly while mumbling incoherent syllables. He had no idea what to say. There was no way he would take Merle back to Bay's, but he didn't want to hang out with Merle either and stand his girlfriend up. She was making them dinner and was waiting for him to return soon.

"What's that hemming and hawing shit, son? Whassa matter? Cat got your tongue?" Merle studied him with a frown, immediately knowing that his little brother was trying to hide something.

"How long you staying in town for?" Daryl asked the most important question first. Depending on Merle's reply, Daryl would know if he would be able to hide Bay away from his brother or if it would be useless and he would eventually have to tell Merle about her.

"Long haul... opened some lines of communication in Atlanta. Gonna make good money transporting 'goods' there for ma old pal Smitty."

"Christ Merle,... usin' ain't enough? Now ya gotta deal that shit?" Daryl hated that Merle used crystal meth. He was sure that one day it would destroy him, but Merle never listened to him.

"Ain't dealin', just transportin'. Keep your pants on, boy. We live in the Meth capital of the fucking United States, son. Gonna get maself a piece of that pie." Merle looked him up at down and narrowed his eyes at him.

"Now, where did ya say you were going?"

"Ya can't come!" Daryl told him and pushed past his brother, letting the door fall shut behind him. "Got plans!"

"Awww, yer boyfriend waitin' on ya? That shit more important than family?"

"Like you care about family." Daryl muttered to himself.

"What was that, boy?" Merle shouted after him.

"I gotta go. You staying at Smitty's then?"

"Yeah."

"I'll find ya tomorrow!" Daryl told him and high-tailed it out of there. He felt caged and his fight-or-flight-instinct kicked in, having him practically running out of the building and to his truck and stepping on it, before Merle would be able to tail him.

"You sure got some secrets." Merle said to the empty hallway. Daryl had always been a bit awkward, but his behavior right now had been more than that. Something was going on, and Merle would figure out what it was. _Always do. Can't hide nothin' from me, baby bro._

* * *

"Hey, right on time." Bay smiled as she set their plates with steaks and roasted potatoes and broccoli on the breakfast bar. Her smile faltered, when she noticed that, for the second time in two days, he looked unhappy. He looked shaken, even. "What happened?"

_Damn her for being able to tell when something's wrong. _"Nothing... just walked in on them fucking." Daryl lied, knowing it was a safe lie, because she would never bring that up in front of the other couple.

"Oh!" she blushed with a giggle. Despite them doing some naughty things of their own now, hearing words like that still made her slightly uncomfortable.

"Yeah." He dropped his bags by the closet, except for the one with the meat, which he took to the kitchen and stuffed the contents into the freezer with Bay watching from her seat. When he went to pass by her, she gently grasped his arm.

"Are you okay?" she asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Yeah. All good." he forced a smile and quickly leaned in to press a kiss to her lips before he took his seat next to her.

"Okay." she wasn't convinced, but if he didn't want to talk about it, she wouldn't press the issue. Something had happened at Patrick's, of that she was sure. She would give him some time, but if he kept being weird for longer than the rest of the night, then she most definitely would ask him again. She hoped that Patrick and Daryl hadn't had a fight. She knew how much Pat meant to Daryl, even if he would never admit it out loud.

"This is good." Daryl mumbled after a while.

"Thanks. I'm glad you like it."

"I like everything ya make... Brought some more meat."

"I saw. Is Patrick okay with that?"

"It's mine... and with me being here all the time, he don't need all of it for himself." Daryl shrugged. He had to be careful, he'd almost told her that Patrick hadn't been there to see Daryl taking the meat. He felt bad. He hated lying to Bay, but he had to get his head straight first on how to handle the whole thing with Merle. He had to take a day to steel his nerves as well, because as soon as Daryl would tell him, Merle sure would have a million things to say about his relationship with Bay, and very probably none of those things would be even remotely of a positive or happy nature.

* * *

An hour later all thoughts about Patrick, Merle and fights were forgotten. Bay and Daryl were once again naked in bed, kissing like their lives depended on it. Daryl had never felt comfortable naked, but with Bay, he wouldn't mind being naked 24/7. She was crazy about him and his body, and it showed. It was a great confident boost for a guy who didn't think of himself as attractive at all, even though a lot of girls thought that he was gorgeous, and that he could be in a freaking boy band with Pat. He had never believed any of that crap, still didn't, and he still got uncomfortable as soon as Bay said something about him being attractive, but with her he knew that she wasn't bullshitting him. She wasn't an ass-kisser. She only said things she meant.

Right now she wasn't saying anything, though. She was too busy alternating between panting and gasping his name, and sucking on his neck. She had her legs spread, and Daryl was laying between them and rubbing his rock-hard length against her pussy, finally giving her the naked dry-humping she hadn't been able to stop thinking about. Bay was almost in heaven, but the whole thing was starting to get a bit frustrating. Daryl was oozing pre-cum and Bay was quite wet herself, so Daryl's thingy kept slipping and only hit her good spot every once in a while. And he was so focused on keeping himself from pushing his cock into her, that he also kept losing his rhythm. "Gotta switch..." he murmured under his breath. "You gotta go on top, baby girl. Should work better. You up for that?"

"Let's try it." Bay nodded and let Daryl turn them around with one swift motion.

"Come up a little higher... Pin it against ma belly..." Daryl instructed her, referring to his cock while he was holding on to her little love handles and helped her position herself right. Bay lowered herself and did as she was told, pinning his length against his belly with her soft, wet pussy. Daryl guided her movements, pushing and pulling at her hips until Bay got the hang of it. She put her hands on his chest to support herself and started rubbing herself against his wonderful dick.

"Oooohhh..." she moaned with rapture. He was right, the friction was **so** much better. This position also allowed him to play with her tits and he was soon massaging and squeezing, rolling her nipples and tugging them gently, while she ground her clit against the underside of his tip, the grooves and the raised parts of his cock stroking her just right. _Oh God, Daryl... we're gonna be doing this so much!_ Bay thought as she let her hips speed up and gave herself over to the pleasure she felt. Daryl watched her get herself off on his dick. He couldn't wait until she would ride him for real, impaling herself on his throbbing erection over and over again, until he bottomed out inside of her and she would grind her hips down on him, just like she was now, trying to get him even deeper. Daryl groaned at the thought, and the familiar tingle of an impending orgasm formed in his balls and raced up his spine. He had never thought that dry-humping would be this fucking hot, but he was able to feel her little stiff nubbin' perfectly rubbing his hot spot just underneath the head of his cock. She might not know what she was doing, but yet she had the uncanny talent of hitting that spot over and over and over, with her fingers, as well as with her pussy. He wouldn't ever complain about that, but it had him fighting not to cum within sixty seconds for sure.

"Come on, baby girl..." he groaned out, not even realizing that it hadn't just been inside his head, as he fought to hold out a little longer. He grabbed her hips again and pulled her to move over him faster. He would ask her what she needed to tumble over the edge, but he thought it was a safe bet that she didn't even know herself, due to her not even having experimented with herself. "Bay... I can't..." he was panting harshly in an effort not to lose it, but he knew he was losing the fight. He brought his hands back up to her sensitive breasts, roughly pinching her nipples in a last attempt to help her along.

Bay released a little yell, her fingers dug into his chest almost painfully, as the movement of her hips stuttered, then stilled for the fraction of a second, before her whole body shuddered and twitched rhythmically as her climax tore through her. "Oh God... Oh Goooood... Oh shit Daryl..." she moaned out her pleasure, faintly feeling his dick spasm and hearing him groan her name as he finally let his own release wash over him. He quickly held on to her hips to still her movements, when she kept rubbing herself against his over-stimulated cock, and pulled her down to rest against his chest. "Why on Earth didn't I try this sooner?" Bay gasped with closed eyes as she rested on top of an equally breathless Daryl.

"I'm fucking glad that ya didn't try sooner." Daryl scowled a bit at the thought of anybody else experiencing this with her. This way, all of the pleasure she had ever felt was caused by him, and therefore belonged to him. It might be selfish to think like that, but the whole thing deeply satisfied him and he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Yes, me too. I waited for the right person." She grinned shyly and absentmindedly drew little circles around his nipple with her forefinger. "I don't think it would be this way if it would be another guy I'd be doing this with. I can't explain it, but it's a strong feeling I keep having." She giggled when she remembered all those times she had ran into him over the years, still thinking how funny it was how things turned out sometimes. "All this time I thought you hated me. I never thought we would ever end up like this."

"Hate ya?" Daryl frowned. "Why would I fucking hate ya? Never done anythin' ta me. Barely ever talked."

"I know, hate is too strong of a word. I thought you didn't like me very much, or not at all."

"Nah, ain't right. I liked ya alright. Ain't never been good at socializing I guess." he shrugged and started playing with Bay's hair. "What about you?"

"What about me?" Bay sighed in bliss as she snuggled deeper into his chest.

He hesitated. He felt stupid asking her about it. It didn't really matter, because they were together now, but he was curious. "After we met for the first time... At that party at Henderson's?"

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Did ya...? Um... so if ya think that I didn't like you,... you sure didn't like me, huh?" he felt like an idiot asking, but he couldn't help it. He wanted to know if she had liked him too for some time. And by that he meant **like **like, because he'd had to admit to himself by now, that he'd really had a thing for her for two damn years.

"I don't know." It was a good question and Bay didn't quite know how to answer. To be perfectly honest, she hadn't spent too much time thinking about Daryl Dixon. He had simply been a very cute boy she had run into from time to time. She wanted to be honest, but she tried not to make it sound too crass. "I didn't dislike you. You had different friends, you're two years older. You were one of those older, cooler guys. I always thought you were cute, but..." _Damn, didn't mean to say 'but'._

"But what?" Daryl asked right away, just like Bay had expected him to.

"Like I said, I thought you didn't like me, so ummm... well, again, like I said, I thought you were cute and cool and it wasn't like I thought 'hey, he doesn't like me, so he's an ass.' So,..."

"So ya were pretty indifferent ta me?" he guessed and finished her sentence.

"That sounds bad,... but that's what it was, I guess." She admitted carefully and felt bad about it. "But I'm sure it was the same for you, right?"

"Mhm..." he shrugged. It was silly, he knew that, but the fact that she hadn't been into him like he had been into her, hurt a little bit. It was especially silly because he hadn't even realized for those damn two years that he'd liked her all along, he had been too busy denying that fact to himself. At the same time he knew that all this shit from the past wasn't important. They were together now and he felt that Bay cared for him a lot, and that she trusted him. Still, he felt a little stab. To him it meant that so far, he was a bit more into this than she was, and that thought scared the living daylights out of him. _What if she decides that I ain't good enough after all? _At this point it would destroy him. It was like he'd imagined it in the past couple of weeks. She had succeeded in hammering a tiny hole into his thick, concrete wall. Slowly and persistently, over two years she had hammered away, with him always ignoring it and denying it was happening. She had been stronger than his denial, though. She had broken through his wall and she had squeezed herself through the little hole, and she had made him open up his safely guarded heart for her. She had crept right in and now he would never ever be able to get her out of there again. Not that he even wanted her out of there, but if she would dump him, it would be torture for the rest of his life. His heart belonged to her now...

That thought gave him an idea, momentarily distracting him from the bit of disappointment he'd felt at her admission. Bay felt that he was starting to brood and felt even more like shit. His moody demeanor also made her wonder. _Has he been wanting to get together for some time?_ She knew she shouldn't ask though. She didn't want to risk darkening his mood any more. "How about we take a bath?" she smiled up at him and gently brushed some hair out of his eyes.

"Together?" the corners of his mouth started turning up at that.

"Yeah, I'd like that. I've been thinking about it for a while." Bay admitted with a giggle.

"Really?" Daryl perked up noticeably. He wondered what else she had been thinking about in that wonderful head of hers, but somehow he didn't dare ask.

"Yes. It's one of my favorite places to be and I want to share that with you." she said and suddenly blushed as the butterflies in her stomach started up fluttering like crazy, as if a tornado had hit them and was whirling them around. She was still scared of the word love, but she knew that her want to share everything she had, she liked and she wanted with Daryl, was very, very meaningful. And that very meaningful emotion was hitting her full force in that moment.

Daryl was absolutely powerless against the smile that formed on his lips, his own butterflies had started batting their wings and made it difficult to breathe. _She makes me fucking happy, _he realized in that moment. He had realized that before, but it really hit him and sunk in, in that moment. They looked into each others eyes for a long moment, unspoken communication going on as they both felt like they were falling a little deeper into this beautiful thing they had created between them. Eventually Daryl cradled her face in his hands and kissed her as lovingly as he could muster, and never broke that kiss while he sat up, gathered her in his arms and carried her into the bathroom so they could take that bath together.

* * *

"Are you really okay, Daryl?" Bay asked and gently rubbed her thumb across his cheek while she searched his eyes for an honest answer. It was morning now and Daryl had accompanied her to the store. Now that he didn't have to work himself, he didn't want to be apart from her any longer than he really had, too. It was a slow morning and they were both behind the register right next to the open door to the break room. They kissed and hugged while the store was empty and as soon as the bell above the door announced a new costumer, Daryl slipped into the break room, busying himself with making new coffee or having a smoke.

"I'm fine."

"I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, but you don't seem fine. Haven't seemed fine ever since you came back from Pat's. You're so... I don't know... tense. And quiet. Quieter than usual."

"I'm fine. Jus' thinking 'bout some things." he tried to reassure her, but it was weak reassurance.

"You're not tired of me, are you?" She bit her lip nervously, her heart pounding in her chest, but not in a good way this time. Losing him... she couldn't even think about that without wanting to scream and bawl her eyes out.

"Never." he said firmly, leaving no doubt that he meant it, and Bay released the breath she had been holding. "I'll tell ya... when the time's right. Just gimme a couple 'a days. Alright?"

"Okay." she agreed, before she gave him a cheeky smile. "But ooonlyyyy, if I get a big kiss."

"Can't say no to that." he laughed quietly and lowered his head to kiss her and pressed his mouth to hers firmly for a couple of seconds before he pulled tried to pull away, but Bay wouldn't let him.

"Nuh-uh." she whispered against his lips. "Real big kiss!" she muttered, making Daryl grin. Of course he knew what she'd meant before, but he liked teasing her a little. She was sexy when she got a bit impatient. He nuzzled her nose, letting his lips get closer to hers, but pulling away again, when she leaned in, making her chase his lips while he chuckled. After a couple of attempts he had her growling and grabbing his face more firmly in her hands while she got on her tip-toes and pushed her tongue into his mouth unceremoniously. Daryl smiled into the kiss, letting her take control for a moment while he wrapped his arms around her and lifted her off her feet as their tongues swirled and flicked urgently. _Shit, she's getting me hard._

They made out a little, blissfully unaware of the man that was looking in through the shop window and who was speechless for once. "Well that certainly explains you bein' all skittish, lil' brother. Got yerself a sweet piece of ass." Merle muttered to himself as he watched the happy couple kiss. "That where ya been stayin', huh? Nice!" Merle decided that it was time to announce his presence and to see his little brother squirm a little. He walked the two steps over to the door and pushed it open forcefully, making Bay and Daryl jump apart in shock. Daryl was just about to back into the break room, when he realized who exactly the new costumer was, and his eyes widened in shock.

"Awwww hell nooo, Chickadee! I leave for a couple of weeks and ya go and get the next best blonde slut ta keep yer bed warm at night? I'm hurt! I thought you and me had sumthin' real! Didn't know ya were into girls! Thought ya needed a real man, girly! Not little Darylina over here!" Merle grinned.

"Merle!" Bay was more than a little surprised to see the older Dixon brother. It was weird, even though she was not with his younger brother, she hadn't thought about the flirtatious bastard that was Merle in months. She smiled warmly at him. She knew about Merle's reputation, but he had never been bad or mean to her. He'd always just been a big flirt, a bit on the suggestive side, who liked to hear himself talk, but other than that, she had never had any reason to complain. But then that smile faltered when she realized that Merle had called Daryl a girl. A blonde slut even. Suddenly the penny dropped and she thought she might have solved the puzzle of why Daryl was being so broody. However, before she was able to ask, Daryl spoke up.

"Hold up... You two know each other?" Daryl was flabbergasted. You would have been able to knock him over with a feather.

"Of course we know each other, dummy! Where do ya think I buy ma booze and smokes? Miss Bayanne and me go way back, ain't that right, sweet cheeks?" Merle went over to them and leaned against the counter casually, majorly enjoying Daryl's puzzlement.

_He knows her name? He knows her? He... ?_ Somehow that piece of news blew Daryl's mind and he wasn't able to think straight and it also rendered him pretty speechless.

"Now, back ta you, Chickadee. Fine girl like you couldn't find nothin' better than ma little brother? Ya been getting desperate?" Merle grinned and winked at her with a chuckle.

"Don't be mean, Merle. You're brother is the best out there." Bay blushed while she said it, but she still smiled adoringly at an increasingly uncomfortable Daryl.

"That so?" Merle seemed to ponder her words. "Ain't really a fair thing ta say, when ya haven't tried me first, Miss Bay! But yer smart, gotta give ya that. Can't have me, so ya settle for the next best thing..."

"You'll forgive me when I say that that's not exactly how I see it, Mr. Dixon." Bay winked, before she asked the question she had been wondering about. "When did you get back to town?"

"Last night." Merle smirked when Daryl had the decency to blush and lower his head in embarrassment, avoiding Bay's eyes. "I see ma baby brother ain't told ya bout that. Was too busy tastin' yer tonsils, huh? Ha!" Merle always thought of himself as very funny, while Daryl and Bay both just rolled their eyes. However, Bay had her answer and she was sure that this was why Daryl was so tense. What she didn't know was, why he would keep Merle's return from her and why exactly the whole thing had him so tense.

"Anything I can do for you, Merle?" Bay asked politely, slipping back into sales person mode.

"Awww, always so accommodating and helpful, Chickadee. That's what I like about ya. You church folks are just so kind." He said it with his trademark grin and just a hint of sarcasm. "Pack of Camel if you'd be so kind." While Bay turned around to get the cigarettes, Merle looked back and forth between her and Daryl. He was very intrigued by what was going on. His brother had never shown much interest in the girls around town. It was more than just a little surprising that he had hooked up with the sweet, little Catholic school girl. That's how he thought about her when Merle encountered her. A hot little Catholic school girl, sweet and spicy from what he was able to tell by watching her handling various nice and not so nice customers. She certainly wasn't as shy and quiet as she seemed, he knew that much. He'd seen her handle some assholes pretty well. He wouldn't say that he admired her for it, but he had some kind of respect for her. Being so young and having to fend for herself, he could relate to that. Having to stand up to stupid assholes like himself? Ain't easy for a young girl, he knew that, so yeah, she had earned a bit of his respect in the past. He could definitely see why his little brother would pick her to hook up with. Easy on the eyes, sweet and feisty. Nice combination. _Too bad she ain't a couple years older. Would'a showed ya a damn good time, Miss Bay. _Merle grinned that unsettling grin of his, and Daryl grew even more nervous. Merle wouldn't leave well enough alone, he was sure of it. It was weird and kind of alarming to Daryl, that Merle hadn't said anything derogatory about Bay or about Daryl kissing her. So far he'd only made fun of him, which either meant that Merle actually liked Bay, or that this was the eerie calm before a damn hurricane.

Merle paid for his cigarettes and looked at his brother. "You free?"

"I guess..." Daryl mumbled around his thumb. He hadn't done that in a while, but Merle's return certainly had him pick up the nervous habit again.

"Alright. Ya can join me for some grub. Come on." Merle walked towards the door and looked back at Daryl who was awkwardly standing in front of Bay. "Ain't ya gonna kiss yer girlfriend goodbye, son? Come on, we're losin' daylight." Merle looked at him expectantly, refusing to look away to give them some privacy. If this was for real, then Daryl would have to man up and grow a pair.

"I'll come by the restaurant later, alright?" Daryl murmured shyly, not quiet sure if she was mad at him or not.

"Yeah okay." she smiled and tilted her face up to get a kiss from him. Daryl blushed beet red, but he managed to give her a little peck on the lips before he walked out from behind the register and over to his smirking brother.

"You have a nice day, Bayanne."

"Thanks, Merle. Later." she said in parting and watched Daryl follow Merle outside, noticing how his shoulders were slumped and his hands were burrowed deeply inside his pants pockets. She had never seen the brothers together, so this was interesting to watch. It was like some weird power exchange was happening. _Something's definitely going on there. Please God, don't let Daryl be this quiet and high-strung all the time now. _One thing was for sure, they would definitely have to talk bout this. She wanted to know why he had felt the need to lie about this.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**A little mid-week update for you, because I didn't want to keep you waiting for a whole week. It's a busy week and I don't get to write too much.**

**So, who's surprised that Merle's attitude towards Bay seems to be friendly right now?**

**Thank you so so so much for the lovely reviews and the follows and favorites. I am still blown away and humbled by the response to this story. **

**My son has his 2nd birthday today, so I am off to eat some cupcakes now. Oh, and for gifts he would like reviews;-) haha. JK.**

**snowbird: Check out the story's tumblr for the picture of Daryl's "manhood" I picked out, lol. It's great inspiration. Thank you for your kind words and the continued support. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.**

**Leyshla Gisel: Thank you so much for your review. I don't think it will be grumpy Daryl exactly, just a bit more insecure when he's around:) Wary, maybe.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

* * *

**AN: Dim the lights and put on some sexy music, we're about to enter Smutsville in a couple of minutes. (i.e. one third into the chapter) **

* * *

"So, how did this thing with Miss Bayanne happen? Since when are you guys knockin' boots?" Merle asked around a bite of his burger as he leaned back in the booth he was occupying with Daryl.

Daryl shrugged while he thought of what to say. "Started 'bout two months ago. She worked late at the store. There were two guys givin' her trouble. She handled them, but after she closed up and went home they attacked her. Tried raping her, cut her, pinned her to the ground."

Merle visibly straightened at that, a hard look on his face as his fists clenched for a moment. "Who was it?"

"Dunno,... Gus Bower and the guy he hangs with... Clint, I think, but I don't remember his last name. I was down the street when I heard her scream. Ran up to them, beat the crap outta both of them, told them that you and me would get them if they ever came near her again."

"Good. They got lucky it was you. I would'a stabbed and gutted them for that shit." Merle muttered darkly as he picked up a french fry and dipped it into the ketchup. "Hm,... maybe I oughta pay 'em a visit anyway... She alright?"

"Yeah, now she is. Got a scar on her chest now, though. Had nightmares for a while, but they stopped when... ummm... I started stayin' the night. I stayed parked in front of her apartment at night. Slept in my truck. She caught me, helped me out with a cop once... Invited me to stay and things kinda progressed from there on out." Daryl explained quietly. He was still very wary about Merle being so peaceful about the whole thing.

"Fuckin' bastards. Never hit a woman, ya hear me, Daryl? No matter how much she drives ya up a tree. Punch someone else instead, but never a woman. Only good lesson from home..." Merle shook his head in disgust as memories of his father beating their mother flashed up inside his mind. He quickly changed the topic. "Livin' with her, are ya?"

"Kinda... Yeah."

Merle grinned his trademark grin, sending chills down Daryl's spine. "You're a fucking goner, huh? Is my little baby brother in luuuuuuuv?"

"Shut up!"

"Y'are,... how cute." Merle drawled sarcastically and laughed a little. "At least ya picked a good one. If she were older, I'd hit that. Got good taste, little brother... didn't think ya did."

Daryl narrowed his eyes at Merle, not liking how Merle said that he'd hit that if Bay would be more his age. Merle noticed Daryl's suspicious stare, and chuckled. "What? Scared I might her steal from ya? Hm,... now there's a thought... little roll in the sack,... show her how a real man gets down and dirty,... ruin her for you forever... ha... better stay on your toes, son."

"Ya wouldn't do that." Daryl stated, but he didn't sound very convinced.

"How long we known each other, huh? I do whatever the fuck I like." Merle wiped his mouth with a white napkin before he crumpled it up in his fist and tossed it into the empty basket where his fries had been served in. Daryl hadn't thought it possible, but the tension inside his body grew tenfold, and he was very sure that all that tension wouldn't leave his body for as long as Merle was around... and around Bay. He would have to keep his eye on her, make sure Merle didn't make some kind of move. _Can't watch her when she's at the store and I'm working myself. He better don't pull any bullshit. If he takes her away, I might just kill him. Shit... why's he always gotta say this fucked up crap?_

* * *

Merle told Daryl some more about his new business venture, which simply consisted of transporting crystal meth from the cook Smitty to buyers in Atlanta. If he would get caught, Merle would take the fall, but he wasn't worried about that, he just thought about the good money he was going to make. He would stay with Smitty until after the first run, then he would get an place for himself and Daryl, if his little brother decided to stay with him after all. For now Daryl had declined.

When Daryl showed up at Shoney's later, Bay had immediately sensed that his mood hadn't improved at all. If anything, he seemed even more introverted than usual, and he watched her like a hawk. Pat joined Daryl later and from what Bay was able to see, he seemed to be downright pleading with Daryl. She watched them with interest, not understanding how Merle arriving back in town would have such an effect on everybody. Once again she hoped that this would only be temporary and that Daryl wouldn't be like this forever from now on.

During the ride home and during dinner, Daryl barely said two words to her, so she went into the bathroom and drew them a bath. When the tub was filled with heavenly hot water, Bay went back to the living room, took Daryl's hand and dragged him with her. Daryl sighed deeply when his body sank into the water. Before she got undressed Bay lit some candles and turned off the light, making Daryl feel like they were hiding away from the rest of the world, and he liked that very much in that moment. When she joined him, he finally relaxed a little bit. Bay sat between his spread legs, turning her body sideways so she would be able to look at him and touch him. She let her wet hand rub over his neck and shoulder, down his arm and back up to wash his chest gently.

"Why didn't you tell me that ya know my brother?" he suddenly spoke up, startling his girlfriend a little bit.

"We never talked about Merle." she shrugged. "Never really came up, did it?"

"Ya like him?"

"He's alright. No reason to complain so far."

"No, I mean, are ya sweet on him?" Daryl asked as his body tensed back up.

Bay's head whipped up at that and she looked at him with a frown. "Of course not! I'm with you. You're special to me, as you should know by now. There's nobody else. There never was." She fell silent for a moment and absently traced circular patterns around his nipples. "I think... " she hesitated and bit her lip for a moment, before she continued in almost a whisper. "I keep thinking that there will never be anyone else... Just you."

It's like she was reading his mind, because he thought he might be feeling the same way about her. It did something to him, because to him it meant that she was truly his. Only his. He wanted to be the only one she would ever be with. Where she was concerned, he was selfish like that, and he fully accepted it. "Ya mean that?" he asked quietly, the jealousy easing out of his body for now.

"Yes... I do. And it scares me." Bay admitted to him.

"Scares ya?" _The hell she scared of?_ He got that feelings could be scary, he had been scared shitless when he had fully realized that he had actually a lot of feelings for Bay, but he wasn't scared of being with her for the rest of his life. Hell, he was scared of **not** being with her for the rest of his life. Apparently she felt differently, and he didn't like that. He didn't want her to be scared of the future she'd (hopefully) share with him.

"There's no guarantee, you know? That things will work out?" Bay sighed deeply. Daryl seemed to have infected her with his broodiness.

"They will." Daryl was convinced of that. He was committed to this thing and he would do everything in his power to have it work out.

"You don't know that."

"And you don't know that it won't work out." Daryl frowned, not liking that his usually optimistic and happy girlfriend was so moody all of a sudden. "Where's all that coming from? You ain't never talked like that."

"I always loose myself in you so much, that I sometimes forget what day it is." Bay chuckled humorlessly. "Until I remember... I wish I wouldn't have remembered today. I only remembered because Erin came by the store during my shift change... and because my colleagues at the restaurant..."

"What?" _The fuck am I missing here?_ Daryl was utterly confused.

"It's been a year today... All of this started a year ago,... on my 18th birthday, when my father decided he was gonna come flying to my party." Bay murmured and placed her hand on his chest, right over his heart, needing to feel his steady heartbeat in that moment, and that he was alive and well.

"Shit... baby girl... It's yer birthday?" Daryl's eyes widened and he felt like shit, even though he hadn't known. "Why didn't ya say something?"

"Like I said, I forgot at first,... and then it just didn't seem important. Just another day. I'm more concerned with cheering you up. Hm, didn't that work out well?" once again she laughed without humor in her voice.

"Stop." Daryl smiled gently at her and put his wet hand to her face, softly rubbing her cheek with his thumb. "Don't ya worry bout me. Today's special. It's the day ya were fucking born, for cryin' out loud, sweetheart. Don't know bout you, but I'm gonna celebrate."

"Oh yeah? Are you gonna be able to forget about your brother being back? Because for some reason it really seems to stress you out."

"Ain't gonna talk 'bout Merle no more. Not tonight." he said decisively. He was determined that they have a nice rest of the evening, but she was right, it would be hard to get their minds off of their issues. Suddenly, he came up with a crazy idea. It was stupid and probably wildly inappropriate and she might not want to do it, but it was worth a try. Even if she would only laugh at him for suggesting what he would be suggesting, it would be good enough for him. He just wanted to get her out of this mood. "I gotta go do something!" Daryl announced and gently pushed Bay off his chest.

"What? Now?" Bay wondered what on earth he possibly had to go and do now. They were in the middle of a damn conversation.

"Yeah. Gotta go pick something up for us."

"What?"

"Something that will help us get our minds to chill the fuck out." Daryl kissed her hard before he got out of the tub in all his naked, and partially suds-covered, glory, and quickly wrapped a towel around his waist. "You stay in here and relax until I get back, alright? I won't be long!" he promised and gave her another kiss before he left the room, and five minutes after that, the apartment. Bay was confused, but since there was nothing else to do but wait, she leaned back, closed her eyes and tried to do what he had told her to do: relax.

* * *

"Daryl, my man! To what do I owe this rare visit?" Patrick and Daryl exchanged a manly handshake upon Daryl entering his former part-time home.

"I need a favor... And I need ya to keep your mouth shut about it and don't ask stupid questions." Daryl replied gruffly, barely meeting Patrick's eyes while he talked.

Patrick chuckled, not in the least offended by Daryl making demands, even though he was the one, who wanted something from Pat. It meant that he was about to hear something good. Something that would make him ask stupid questions in the first place. "Alright. So what can I do for ya?"

"Your girl ain't here?" Daryl asked first, straining his ears to pick up any sounds from another person in the apartment.

"Nah..." Patrick sighed. Things with Jessa hadn't been going so well. The divorce was tough on her and she took it out on Patrick, even though he tried to be supportive. "We're alone, so what can I do for you?"

"You, um... " Daryl shuffled his feet and dug his hands into his pockets as deeply as they would go. "You got some pot around? The stuff ya use for fucking?"

Pat was stunned. Knowing that Bay was a virgin and knowing how shy Daryl could be, he was surprised that the new couple was already pretty intimate from the sound of it. "Errr... yeah. Hold on..." Patrick got out of his recliner and walked into his bedroom where he kept his stash. Slowly the shock wore off and the biggest smile appeared on his face. _Good for you, man. I knew she was perfect for ya. _"Want me to roll one for you?" he shouted back to the living room.

"Yeah." Daryl replied, and on silent feet he crept over to the shelf where Patrick kept his VHS tapes. While Pat was busy in the bedroom, Daryl scanned the titles until he found the one he was looking for. He grabbed the tape with the label 'White Lightning' and quickly shoved it into his back pocket. Daryl usually wasn't picky about his porn, but he picked that movie, because it actually had a plot, it also focused on the girls' pleasure and not just on the guys, and the performers all had natural bodies and no fake enhanced boob shit going on. He thought that out of all the porn movies he knew, this one would most likely appeal to Bay, **if **she would actually agree to watch it with him. Getting high and watching porn always did a good job of distracting him. He knew Bay had smoked pot before and she wasn't against it. He also knew that she had watched porn before, and since she was usually pretty cool about everything, he thought it might be fun to do this together and fool around a little bit and forget everything around them for a couple of hours. He was curious about the pot Patrick used for 'fun time' with Jessa. Supposedly it made the whole thing more intense and enhanced pleasure. Patrick said it made him feel Jessa's touches way more intensely and vice versa. Orgasms and energy had been enhanced as well, so Daryl was definitely curious about trying that. Patrick and Jessa had had some crazy, wild and fun nights getting high on that stuff and having sex, maybe it would make him and Bay have a good time as well. He wouldn't use it to lure her into going all the way, he just wanted her to be able to switch off her mind and enjoy herself. And a more intense orgasm would be a great birthday gift, right?!

"Here ya go." Patrick came back out with a little plastic baggie, containing two joints. "Put a bonus one in there. Trust me,... y'all want a repeat." he grinned, making Daryl blush and look at the ground, but he was still grateful for Pat sharing the good stuff with him.

"Thanks." Daryl grabbed the baggie and put it in his pocket, careful not to crumple or squash them. He inched back towards the door. "I'll get going..."

"Hold up... " Patrick couldn't help at least one stupid question. "That mean y'all are going all the way? Already?" Daryl shot him a warning look, but Patrick laughed. "What? Come on, it's not that bad a question. I gave you two blunts, you can answer a harmless question in return, yeah?"

"No,... Ain't goin' all the way yet. Happy?" Daryl mumbled as he slowly moved closer to the door.

"Yes actually." Pat laughed and clapped Daryl on the shoulder. "Get outta here, man. I'm sure she's waiting. Ain't gonna keep ya any longer. Go. And have fun."

Daryl didn't say anything. He just gave Patrick a little nod as he walked out, careful to hide the tape he had snagged from the shelf. He really didn't need any more of Patrick's knowing grins.

* * *

"Hey... I told you to stay in the tub until I got back!" Bossy Daryl was making an appearance, but this time it didn't intimidate Bay. She had actually kind of missed his bossiness a little. She usually didn't like being told what to do, but with him... she could only describe it to be somehow exciting, in a way. Maybe it had to do with the fact of how she got even more aroused when he gave her instructions when they were fooling around. Something about that was really hot, but she wasn't really able to explain why she felt that way.

"But I got all wrinkly and the water got cold pretty fast. My personal radiator was missing and I missed my personal radiator." she pouted playfully and succeeded in making him smile. He liked hearing that she missed him.

"'s that right?" he smiled and let his gaze travel over her emerald green, fluffy bathrobe, which was covering her body. He narrowed his eyes, like it would give him x-ray-vision and he would be able to find out if she was naked under there.

"Mmhhmm..." she reached her hands out for him to join her on the bed, but Daryl shook his head no. However he briefly knelt down next to her and kissed her softly.

"Hey..." he murmured quietly against her lips. "You're pretty good at keeping an open mind, right?"

Bay pulled back and frowned a little. "Yeeeeeesss..." the word was drawn-out and spoken in a wary tone of voice, therefore not really confirming her boyfriend's assumption about her. To her own surprise, it had turned out that she was actually a quite curious and enthusiastic lover, maybe even adventurous... so far, a little bit, at least... but there were still things that made her a little nervous. It definitely made her nervous when he was implying that she should keep an open mind.

Daryl laughed a little and lovingly kissed the tip of her nose. "Ain't nothin' bad. 't least I don't think it is. Nothing ya ain't done before." he said in an attempt to erase the frown from her face. "It's your birthday and I think we should have a good time. Since we got some shit to deal with, we might need some help to forget about it." Daryl explained and pulled out the little plastic baggie that contained Patrick's "gifts", and the VHS tape.

Bay looked at the joints and felt relieved. It was true, it wasn't anything she hadn't done before and getting a little high would help in making her forget today's stupid anniversary. "I like the way you think." she smiled at him. "This should definitely help with blending out all the bullshit." She picked up the tape and read the label. "White Lightning... Never heard of it. What's it about?"

"Ummm... it's um... a porno... actually..." Daryl laughed with a hint of embarrassment. "That's why I asked about having an open mind... ya know?"

"Awwwww... pot and porn on my birthday. Oh Sweetie, you shouldn't have..." Bay said jokingly before she pulled his lips back to hers with a giggle. _He really is too cute._

"So...? Ya down with watchin'?" he asked after their lips had separated again.

"Totally. I actually think that it's an awesome idea." Bay smiled. Okay, maybe she would be a liiiiittle bit embarrassed at first to watch other people having sex with her boyfriend right next to her, but in the end she thought it might be fun and that it wouldn't hurt to get a few pointers maybe.

_I picked the right girl. She's fucking awesome. _Daryl grinned to himself and kissed her once more before he stood up from the sofa-bed. "Alright. You stay right where you are and I'll prep the rest..."

By 'prepping the rest' he meant setting the mood a little. He didn't exactly want it to be a tacky and cheap experience or too much of a laughing matter. He wanted them to have a good time and he wanted it to be hot and comfortable at the same time, so he gathered pretty much every candle he was able to find, setting them up all around the living room in the safest manner possible. He was especially mindful of safety around the sofa-bed, making sure that they wouldn't be able to knock over a candle and set things on fire. He also put two bottles of water next to the bed, for hydration and also just in case that they would set something on fire after all. Soon the light of the candles was illuminating the room in a dim and intimate glow, and Bay felt herself relaxing already. She loved candlelight, it had a calming effect on her and she loved that Daryl always went the extra mile to make sure that she was comfortable. He was a perfect gentleman. Once every candle was lit, Daryl took off his clothes, only leaving on his boxer-shorts, and settled in behind Bay on the couch, pulling her to rest against his chest before he lit their blunt and offered it to her by holding it up to her lips between his thumb and forefinger.

* * *

The first couple of minutes had been a bit weird for both of them, but they soon got over it, especially when the effect of the pot started to kick in. They shared laughs and giggles at the "plot" at the beginning of the movie, but soon the first sex scene came up and they quieted down. They watched a beautiful red-haired woman stroking the guy's erection in a strip club while she talked dirty in his ear. Back in the day Bay hadn't enjoyed porn too much, but now she automatically envisioned herself and Daryl doing these things and it had her aroused pretty quickly. Daryl started nuzzling the side of her neck and used two fingers to brush her hair out of the way. He licked a long strip from the junction between neck and shoulder, up to her ear, gently nibbling on the outer shell. Bay shivered and moaned quietly. She tilted her head to the side, giving him more access and encouraging him to keep going at the same time. He interrupted his ministrations to take his last hit, then he attached his lips back to her skin while his hands went to the belt of her robe, loosening the knot that had made sure that her robe wouldn't fall open. He grabbed both sides of the garment in his hands and pulled it away from her body. Daryl groaned deep in his throat when he looked down over her shoulder and saw her completely nude body bared to his eyes. He put his hands on her belly and moved them up, stroking her incredibly soft skin, leaving goosebumps in his wake as she arched up into his hand. Bay closed her eyes and let the sexy moans coming from the TV fill her ears. She opened them again a moment later, watching the woman lower herself on the man's length. "Yours is so much bigger and more beautiful than that guy's." Bay giggled, making Daryl chuckle against her neck while he tugged the robe off her shoulders and arms, undressing her completely.

"You're much more beautiful than any girl I've ever seen." he murmured and gave her shoulder a sharp nip as his hands cupped her breast and squeezed possessively. "And you're all mine, baby girl."

Bay shuddered with lust. She didn't know if it was the pot, but his touch felt different. It was like she had gained more nerve endings and she was feeling more of it than before. Daryl rubbed both her nipples with his thumbs in slow circular motions, enjoying feeling them go from soft to hard as little pebbles. He kept massaging her tits, and after every little squeeze he pinched and tugged at her nipples, starting out soft and increasing the pressure and intensity with every round. It didn't take long at all to have Bay squirming and moaning. Her fingertips dug into his thighs ever so often while she rubbed them up and down. "Ya like when I play with yer tits, sweetheart?" he rasped against her shoulder where he was busy marking her again. He was surprised hearing himself ask that, but then again, he really shouldn't be surprised. Getting stoned had always made him loosen up and get more vocal.

"Mhm." Bay pressed out as she tried to grind her ass back into his erection while she watched the beautiful woman on screen get slammed hard by her lover. The woman was moaning in the sexiest way. She had a bit of a smoky voice and when she moaned and her breath hitched, she made the best sound, that had Bay's insides clenching pleasurably.

"Ain't hurtin' yet?" he asked as he tugged at her hardened peaks a bit rougher, grinning when he had her jumping and moaning louder.

"No... it's good." she panted and finally turned her head towards him, wanting to feel his tongue in her mouth. Daryl's kiss was electrifying. Every stroke of his tongue against her own had her shuddering and moaning. She felt it sizzling hotly throughout her entire body and setting her sensitized nerve-endings on fire. The summer heat, paired with the heat of the candles, their body heat and the things they were doing had a fine sheen of perspiration covering her body in no time. With the skin of her naked body glistening in the candlelight and with the wanton look in her eyes, Daryl thought that Bay looked like a sexy, naughty little goddess, but the silver cross she always wore reminded him that she was still his good girl at the same time. To him it was the sexiest mix ever. She was so complex that it sometimes made his head spin, but it was damn exciting. It was one of the reasons he was falling so damn hard for her. She was nice, good and sweet, but she was also wild, fierce and passionate. And then there was her sexy and naughty side. There was none he preferred, he loved all of her sides the same. She was the whole damn package. _Was a damn fool to fight this for so long._ He kissed her voraciously until they had to come up for air. His eyes flicked to the TV screen, taking in the scene that was unfolding. He reached around Bay and grabbed her chin with his right hand in order to turn her head back to face the TV again, while his left hand slid down her body.

"Watch!" he ordered and released her chin, but softly closed his hand around her throat instead, using his thumb to rub over one of the fading marks that was still present. "That bother you?" he asked quietly, referring to his hand on her throat.

"No." she breathed and her eyes widened when she noticed what was happening in the movie. The first and only time she had ever watched porn with Erin and Jessa, it had been pretty straight up. Intercourse, blow job, some fingering. She had never seen anything like this being done. The guy had his face buried between the woman's legs and he was kissing and licking her... **there**. She immediately imagined Daryl in that position and his luscious lips touching her most sensitive parts, and it send a strong surge of lust through her body. She had never really had that sensation before, but this time, she really felt herself getting wet. And just in time, it seemed, as she heard Daryl's voice in her ear.

"Spread your legs for me, baby girl... and keep watching." Daryl watched the movie, too, while Bay did as she was told and spread her legs for him. She was too fascinated and aroused by the events of the movie to even have the wherewithal to protest, in case she would have wanted to. Daryl's fingers teasingly slid over her smooth nether lips, tickling her a little until she was squirming in his (kind of dominant and possessive) embrace. Seemed like the effects of the marijuana was bringing out a new side inside of him, and the equally high Bay didn't mind that in the least, because he'd already had her shaking from arousal in a handful of minutes.

He kept teasing her gently while they both watched the woman being eaten out, by stroking his fingertips slowly up and down her outer pussy lips, eliciting goosebumps and little frustrated moans as Bay tried to shift to get his fingers to touch more of her. "Like what you're seeing?" Daryl asked her with a knowing grin as his fingers finally slid further down to her opening, feeling her liquid arousal. "Mmmm... yeah... ya do..." he groaned under his breath and licked along the column of her neck before he clamped his teeth down on her earlobe. He pressed urgent kisses to her skin, everywhere his mouth was able to reach as two fingers just lightly dipped into her opening, circling lightly, gathering her wetness on his fingertips before he brought them back up, spreading her with his ring and index finger while his wet middle finger delved between her small inner labia, gently pushing them to the sides, spreading her in a fashion that made her pussy look like the most beautiful butterfly he had ever seen. He admired his handiwork for a second before he focused his attention on her clit. He used the lubricated tip of his middle finger to stroke it from bottom to top, slightly pulling back the little hood with every stroke, making her quiver and jump with every bit of tender attention his finger was giving that very sensitive spot.

"Daryl... " she was gasping and arching her back, trying to push her pussy harder against his hand, as she helplessly clutched at the wrist which belonged to the hand around her throat, while she pushed her other hand behind her and between them, to fondle the hard, big bulge she was feeling against her lower back.

"Keep watching." he told her in a low voice when he noticed her eyes closing. He shuddered and reflexively squeezed her throat a little when he felt her hand palming his stiff cock through his boxers. _Not yet... you first, baby girl, _he told himself and tried to keep a grip on himself. Patrick hadn't been lying. That shit they had smoked really made things a lot more intense and it was tough holding back and not hump her like a damn dog until he came all over her. "That look good to ya?" he asked and nodded at the TV when she was back to watching and fighting to keep her eyes open. Him playing with her clit wasn't helping much. She wanted to close her eyes, lean back and let him make her cum.

"Yes." she panted, followed by a mewl when he rubbed a particularly good spot on her clit. "Oh God, Daryl... oh shit..."

He grinned smugly against her neck. He loved how he was able to make her cuss by giving her pleasure. He hoped she'd do much more of that in just a couple of minutes. "Bay?" he brought his mouth back up to her ear, letting her feel his hot breath against her skin before he whispered the next part into her ear. "I wanna do that to you."

Bay stilled and her eyes widened. Had she heard him right? "T-that...?" she stared at the screen before she turned her head to look at him. "Really?"

"Yeah. Need to... been wanting ta taste ya for a while." he admitted before he claimed her lips with his and pushed his tongue into her mouth, letting it tangle with hers passionately. He'd felt the need to taste her ever since the night he had masturbated in her bathtub for the first time. He needed to smell her and he needed to taste her. He felt it in every fiber of his being like a pesky itch that needed scratching. He wanted to brush his nose through her curls and inhale her most private scent deeply, letting it imprint on his senses and letting it mark him in a way that would ruin him for other women forever. She was the only one he would ever wanna do this with anyway. He realized that he was hers, just as much as he considered her his. He would never allow anybody else to call him theirs,... there would always only be Bay for him and he had never felt a stronger urge than to loose himself in her completely and give her all the pleasure he could, because she was giving him **everything.** "Gonna let me?" he asked breathlessly after breaking their wild kiss. Bay nodded, not able to make words come out of her mouth in that moment, she was nervous and excited at the same time and just like everything else, it was elevated by the pot in her system.

Daryl kissed her again and slowly maneuvered them into a different position. While he pushed her on her back, Bay grabbed at his boxer-shorts and pulled, wanting him naked as well. Daryl pushed them down quickly, lifting his knees one by one while he was kneeling, to get them off all the way. While he looked behind him as he pulled the garment off his feet, Bay sneakily wrapped her hand around his impressive shaft and rubbed her thumb across the wet tip.

"Ssssssssshhhiiiit..." Daryl hissed as his head whipped back around and he looked down at her hand stroking him. Bay looked up at him with the candlelight reflecting in her large, hazel eyes and biting her lip around a cheeky, little smile. _Little vixen. _He wanted to stop her, he wanted her to cum first, but shit it felt so damn good. The pleasure he was receiving felt like little fireworks. Little firework rockets of lust and arousal that shot from his own center into every other cell of his body and created exhilarating bursts of pleasure throughout his body when they exploded. _This shit's so good. Thank God we got another for next time. Oh fuck, Bay... she's gotta stop... _"Stop!" he gasped and cradled her head in his hands, making her focus on him and his words.

"I can't..." Bay still wore that sexy, little smile. "You're so beautiful,... I want to see you orgasm." she giggled happily.

Her words were innocent, but her expression was anything but, and Daryl found himself powerless to resist. Also, her hand massaging his throbbing cock wasn't strengthening his resolve either. "Keep going and you're about to..." he told her as one hand left its place on her jaw and grasped the silver cross that rested on her chest. _That shit's so hot... I'm a fucking pervert... at least it's fun being one. _Daryl chuckled at his own thoughts as he closed his fist around the cross and tugged on it, in order to pull Bay closer and kiss her senseless. He groaned into her mouth as Bay used the grip he enjoyed most; both hands around his cock, one on each side, fingers interlocked, thumbs pressed together side by side and rubbing along his underside, hitting all the good spots while she moved her hands up and down. He was going out of his mind, it felt insanely good and it had him moaning and groaning like a bitch in heat. He buried his hands in her hair, her cross still in his right fist as well, getting it tangled up in her tresses while he pulled her long hair, grasping it in his fists tightly, because he needed something to hold on to as his orgasm approached quickly.

"Oh fuck... unnnghhh Bay... fuck..." his eyes closed and his head fell back as his breathing turned quick and shallow. "Yes... yes... faster... fuck don't stop baby girl..." Bay obeyed and picked up the pace and was immediately rewarded with a loud groan as his head fell forward again and he rested his forehead against hers. "Oh yes... mmmmm such a good girl... my good girl... " he panted, even in his lust-filled haze he was acutely aware of her cross digging into his palm, turning him on even more. "That's it... oh God... don't stop... gonna cum all over you... don't stop... oh fuck YES!" Bay giggled quietly when she felt his length starting to spasm in her hands, happy that he had given him pleasure. She pointed his thingy at her chest and let him cum on her breasts. Daryl pulled on her hair again to tilt her face up, and kissed her sloppily while he grunted out his release. Patrick really hadn't been exaggerating at all. The orgasm was better and longer than usual. If he would have had any less self-discipline, he probably would have let them turn into potheads and fuck high all the time. Screw having a job, screw her all the time instead. _Oh man, I wanna be inside her... Wanna make her cum on my dick. Am I getting hard 'gain? Fuck yeah... _Daryl looked down at himself and giggled a little when he found his dick at half-mast. It would have to wait though, because he finally wanted his first taste of her. He released her hair and her cross from his grip and gently pushed her on her back.

"Awww shiiit, baby girl..." he chortled as he took in the picture she presented. Bathed in candlelight, 'just fucked'-hair, eyes glazed over, big happy smile and her silver cross was neatly framed by her cum-stained breasts. "Yer killin' me, sweetheart." He grinned as he positioned himself between her spread legs. "Let's see if I can kill you now." he was on his stomach by now, both his arms reaching around her thighs, keeping her spread for him. He licked his lips as he looked at her... looked at **his** beautiful, little pussy. Even high, Bay was trembling with anticipation and excitement. Daryl felt it in her thighs, prompting him to press a kiss against the inside of each one. "So beautiful..." he murmured as he finally lowered his head and fulfilled one of his fantasies by brushing his nose through her trimmed curls and inhaling her pure scent. He released a needy groan as she filled his nostrils and invaded his bloodstream like a drug, giving him another kind of high and instant cravings. There was no skill and no finesse as he dove in with a growl, but Bay couldn't care less, and it wasn't like she was able to tell. It was the first time giving and receiving this for the both of them after all, and his enthusiasm and excitement sure as hell had her enjoying this just as much as he did... Well, more actually, because she was getting her privates licked by her hot boyfriend.

He was tracing her shape with his tongue. He was thoroughly laving her outer and inner lips and sucking them a little. It was still a bit clumsy, but all insecurities that bubbled up in the back of his head were quickly squashed by Bay's response. She was gasping and moaning and squirming in his grasp. His tongue was giving her little electric shocks that had her clit throbbing. She needed his tongue there, but he was teasing her by exploring every other part first. When the tip of his tongue tentatively tickled her opening, her hips raised off the bed and she pressed herself against his face.

_Fuck yeah, baby girl! _Her wanton actions had him groaning against her, even before he got his first real taste. He removed one arm from around her thigh and brought his fingers to her center. With two fingers he gently spread her open before he thrust his tongue inside of her. Bay moaned his name loudly at the same time as her taste hit his tongue. It was a wicked good combination and Daryl was painfully hard within the blink of an eye. He groaned against her, using both his arms again to grip her thighs and pull her more against his face as he started to tongue-fuck her. His movements were downright frenzied as he felt like he was a man dying of thirst and she was the only one who could quench it.

"Daryl... Oh God, Daryl... Please..." What he was doing felt fantastic, but she needed more. She needed to feel his tongue on that little thing that would make her orgasm. "Please... I need you..."

"Ya got me." he panted, before he dove back in.

"No... I need... something..."

Daryl stopped and looked up at her curiously. "What do ya need?"

"You... to touch me somewhere else..."

"Where? Show me." he ordered her gently and watched with fascination as her hand slid down her belly, close to where his face was, until she stopped and timidly tapped a spot right above her clit. He hid a smirk as he moved his mouth up to her finger. "That's where ya want me?" he muttered before he licked the spot above her clit, teasing her a little. "Or did ya mean here?" he grasped her hand and pulled it further down until the tip of her index finger touched her stiff nub. He used the fingers of his other hand to spread her again and licked her clit and her finger, eliciting a sharp hiss from Bay's mouth. "Move your finger, baby girl. Rub yourself." he instructed. "That's a good girl." Bay moved her finger in little circles while Daryl kept licking her clit, rubbing against the sides with the tip of his tongue, and flicking her finger with his wet muscle as well, providing lubrication while she touched herself. They were both working in unison to get her to orgasm, and Bay was in heaven. Even him licking her finger every other second sent sharp stabs of pleasure to shoot through her whole body.

"Ya trust me, right?" Daryl looked up into her eyes while he touched his tongue to her again.

"Blindly." Bay gasped out. Daryl smiled proudly and kissed her thigh lovingly before he released his grip on her for a moment.

"Keep going, sweetheart. I'll be right back with ya..." he murmured as he shifted and reached over to the bedside table and plucked a white candle from the candle holder. He licked his own thumb and forefinger and snuffed out the flame, before he wrapped his fingers around the candle and moved his fist up to remove any excess wax. Then he settled back in between her legs and let his tongue go back to toying with her little nubbin' and her finger while he brought the candle up to her opening and slightly dipped it into her, bottom end first. The candle was slim, he wasn't worried about hurting her, but he still went in carefully, letting her get a feel for it.

Bay stilled her movements and held her breath. The stiff object felt so much different than his fingers or his tongue, but not unpleasant in any way. _Oh God... So deep..._ It was reaching depths his fingers hadn't explored previously, he had always been very careful with penetration. Daryl moved Bay's finger out of the way, wanting play time all to himself now. The candle reached the end of her, just as he gave her clit a first experimental suck.

"OOHHH... sshhiiit." Bay was bucking against him, bringing a smile to his face when she cursed. Whenever he had her cursing it meant that whatever he was doing felt really good. It brought him a boost in confidence to know he was doing this right, and he dove back in with a vengeance. He fucked her at a steady rhythm with the candle, while he sucked and licked at her clit and pussy lips, getting a kick out of how hard she ground herself against him. She was shaking and squirming, moaning and groaning, and Daryl loved every second of it. However, the position was not a comfortable one for him and his neck was starting to ache. An image started to float through his mind and from the way it made his dick twitch and jump, he knew that he definitely wanted to try it. He slowly removed the candle and let it drop to the floor next to the bed, then he crawled up her body and rubbed his nose against hers.

"Wanna know what ya taste like?" he breathed, his voice sending shivers down Bay's spine. When she nodded Daryl kissed her and let his tongue plunge into the depths of her mouth where it was got a warm reception from her own. They playfully flicked at each other before Daryl entered further and let her suck on his tongue to share her taste with her. Bay didn't know what she had expected, but she definitely hadn't expected to get turned on by tasting herself on his tongue. If anybody would ask her what she tasted like, she still wouldn't have an answer. It was unlike anything she had ever tasted. It wasn't unpleasant at all, she just didn't have any words to describe it. It made her blood sing in a weird way, and she knew that if Daryl tasted anything like her, then she would be very addicted to it very quickly. "Ain't done with ya yet. Gonna make ya cum, don't worry." he grinned as he felt her hips buck up into his, trying to get friction. "Just gonna switch positions, alright? You're gonna go on top. I want ya ta sit on my face, baby girl." he rasped against her lips and watched her eyes snap open.

"What?" she giggled confused, not quite sure how that was supposed to work out. "How...?"

"You're gonna straddle my face 'nd put this..." he reached between them to rub his fingers over her wet center. "Right on top of my mouth."

"But... I'm gonna suffocate you." The muscles in Bay's core clenched hard at that mental image and at the idea of feeling his tongue there again, but she was worried about hurting or even killing him.

"Nah, don't worry. Trust me, I'm gonna have fun." he reassured her with a little grin, but she still didn't look convinced. She was blushing and biting her lip, because somehow, despite everything they had done so far, sitting on his face seemed way naughtier than anything else. "Stop thinking, Bay. It's gonna feel good, I promise. And I want ya to do it. Don't think about me, just let go, alright? My turn to do the work."

Bay nodded timidly, and Daryl helped her up and laid down in the spot she had previously occupied. He squirmed a little until he was comfortable, then he made a come hither motion with his right hand. "Come here."

"Are you sure?" Bay asked as she scooted up towards his head. He was rock hard, the tip of his erection bouncing against his lower belly, and even though she saw that, she still had to ask one more time. "You really want me up here?"

"Yeah. I am. Come on. Wanna taste ya again." he urged her and helped her to position herself on his face. Bay looked down and the sight of him underneath her like that, so eager to please her, made her feel a powerful rush of lust, but at the same time, she still blushed and hid her face behind her hands while she giggled.

"Oh God, Daryl... this is so weird."

"Yeah?" Daryl mumbled and squeezed her ass in his hands while he pulled her down a little more. "Is this weird?" he asked before he delved his tongue between her lips to find her clit, pulling a shuddering moan from his lover.

"No..." Bay's eyes closed as the air rushed from her lungs. Daryl was a happy camper and let his mouth and his tongue toy with her again. He licked her all over, to tease her a little, slowly getting the hang of the whole thing. He sucked at her lips again, savoring every bit of her taste he was able to catch on his tongue, before his tongue slid back inside her tight, wet passage. With the position they were in now he was able to get in deeper and he took full advantage of it. It was such a sinful feeling to have his tongue there, Bay was almost embarrassed for how wet it made her. His appreciative grunts eased her mind though. Daryl seemed to really enjoy himself thoroughly. She tried to stay still, but when he traced his tongue back up to her clit a little bit later, she simply wasn't able to do so any longer. His ridiculously luscious lips wrapped around her and he gave her these amazingly hot, wet pulls with his mouth, making her moan and shiver and crave more of it. Her hips started moving of their own accord, grinding against his mouth and wetting his chin, while she begged for more. With every bit of attention his tongue was giving her, she forgot about her reservations and let go, just like he had told her to.

"Oh shit... oh fuck, baby!" she moaned loudly as she felt the tip of his tongue tickle her clit mercilessly. The pleasure was exquisite and she couldn't get enough. She moved her hips faster, seriously starting to ride his face as her left hand reached down and grabbed his hair hard in her small fist. "Yes, yes, yes oh fuck, Daryl, yes, don't stop..." she kept moaning louder than ever, her other hand grabbing her own breast and pinching her nipple while she used Daryl's mouth for her pleasure.

Daryl was having a ball. This was way hotter than he had ever imagined, and when she had started pulling at his hair, keeping his head pinned in place, he had taken one hand off her ass and had started jerking himself off. Both of them were covered in sweat now and seeing her glistening body move on top of his face, manipulating her own rosy peak, her face contorted in pleasure and hearing her say 'fuck' repeatedly,... it would be more than enough to make him cum right along with her. The damn candlelight just added even more eroticism to the whole thing and a deep level of intimacy at the same time.

"Don't you stop... don't you ever stop... oh Daryl... so good... oh God... yes... yes...aahhh fffffuuuck!" Daryl doubled his efforts when he recognized the signs of her impending release, sucking harder and faster. She was riding and grinding down on him so hard that she was smothering him a little, but to him it just added to his experience and made him crash right over the edge at full speed with her. Their orgasms could only be described as mind-blowing. Bay was barely able to breathe as her world came to a standstill a split-second before she shattered into a million pieces, only to be put back together by him and the now gentler strokes of his tongue. She fell forward, supporting herself on shaky hands as Daryl groaned and jerked underneath her, slowly pumping his own length through his orgasm and lapping up her arousal while he spilled his essence all over his belly.

His hands fell to his sides limply just as Bay got off of him and stretched out beside him, both gasping for air. "Are you okay?" Bay asked him and gently rubbed his heaving chest.

"I made ya say fuck!" Daryl giggled breathlessly.

"Best fucking birthday ever!" Bay laughed and let him pull her closer.

"And I still ain't done with you, yet."he promised with a wicked grin while he turned on his side and let his hand slide up between her thighs. She was still one orgasm behind and since it was her birthday she deserved to get at least one more than him.

They were still playing around when their high started to wear off two hours later, and Daryl was more than a little proud that he'd had her screaming his name and having the neighbors pound against the wall at the end of the night, and all without ever putting his dick inside of her. He truly couldn't wait to find out what kind of sexy sounds he would be able to pull from her, once he would really get to pound her with his big cock.

They were a sweaty mess once they were done, but that didn't keep them from cuddling and sharing even more body heat with their tight embrace. They kissed lazily and lovingly and shared a cute moment and slightly embarrassed laughs, when they reflected on some of their actions.

"Did you really use a candle on me?" Bay laughed and pushed some hair out of his eyes after he had slapped his hand over it for a second.

"Yeah... just popped into my head... was it bad?"

"No. I liked it." she smiled and gently stroked his neck and down to his chest. "I liked how you talked to me." she admitted with a little blush.

"I liked talking to ya..." he smiled that cute tiny smile of his. "Was it too rough sometimes?"

"No. I enjoyed everything we did. I think I like both. Rough and gentle. I like feeling you, no matter how." she replied before a big yawn escaped her.

_How the fuck did I get to be so damn lucky?_ He kissed her deeply and squeezed her tight, enjoying their intimacy for a moment longer, before he had to pull away. "Gotta blow out the candles, then we really gotta sleep." Bay had work in the morning and it was almost close to morning already. She knew she would be very tired the next day, but it had been totally worth it. It might have been a crazy and weird idea, but Daryl had managed to turn a day that had been tainted by bad memories, into a day that would hold good and passionate memories forever from now on. He really was her hero.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Sorry for the long wait, but as most of you know there was big trouble in my life, which thankfully has been resolved now.**

**Thank you for the tons of support I received during that difficult and stressful time. I hope I will never have to deal with something like that again.**

**Dear Snowbird: You are probably on your trip as I post this, and I hope you have a lot of fun and get to enjoy yourself and relax. I'm glad how I am portraying Merle. I think he can be very nice if he wants to be, however his main priority is himself and I will try to keep him in character as much as possible while telling my story. Much much love to you.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

The next two weeks passed in a blur. Well,... they did for Daryl, but not for Bay. The day after their special little birthday celebration, she started feeling very tired and physically exhausted. Both of them thought that it might be a side effect of the pot and their sexual activities, which of course, made Daryl feel like an ass for talking her into it. Bay spent almost two hours convincing him, that she was not blaming him and that it had been totally worth it, before he stopped apologizing. On the day after that it turned out, that Daryl really wasn't to blame, because overnight Bay developed a sore throat and a heavily clogged up nose. On the third day her tonsils swelled up and her teeth hurt from the sinus infection she now had, and that made it official: she had the flu. Daryl knew it was bad, when Bay voluntarily called in sick to work and stayed home for three days, i.e. the rest of the week. Even after a whole week, she was still coughing and sneezing and her voice was unrecognizable and often failed to work, but she went back to work with her bag full of meds and a thermos full of chicken soup Daryl had made for her with a few instructions from her. He was great at playing nurse, but for the most part Bay just wanted him to keep his distance, so he wouldn't get sick himself. She was surprised that he didn't even have the sniffles and she was convinced that he must have some kind of super strong immune system. He tried to convince her that he would stay fine, but Bay was very strict about it and he was not allowed to kiss her. Not just because of the germs, but also because she felt utterly disgusting and repulsive with her red, runny nose, bloodshot eyes and rough, hoarse voice. The only time he was allowed to hold her was, when they took a bath with Epsom salt, because it was supposed to help with the flu just as much as with the back pain she used to have. He had soaked up every single second she had spent cuddled into his chest, but at the same time his heart had hurt like crazy when she had shed a couple of tears because she had been feeling so weak and sick. After the first week of her being sick, he suddenly stopped taking baths with her, though. It had Bay wondering, but she never asked, because after all, she had asked him to keep his distance so he wouldn't get sick. What she didn't know was, that Daryl had his reasons not to get in the bathtub with her, but it wasn't anything bad and she would find out soon.

It took her a whole two weeks to recover and today was the first day she had been able to sleep through the night without coughing, which left her with more energy and in a better mood. Just in time, it seemed, because not very long into her shift at Willie's convenience store, Merle showed up. She was surprised, she had almost forgotten about him again, because he hadn't shown his face ever since her birthday and Daryl had started relaxing again and it had made her forget about the weird dynamic the brothers seemed to share.

"Mornin' Chickadee." he greeted her with his usual grin upon entering the store.

"Hey Merle. How's it going?" she replied with a polite smile.

"Good. Good. How's things with you two lovebirds? Darylina treatin' ya right?"

"Don't call him that, Merle. It's mean." Bay admonished him gently. "He is very much a man."

"Is he now?" Merle's grin widened, if that was even possible. "And what exactly makes ya say that? Come on, give me details, don't be shy."

"I think the details of how your brother takes care of me, best remain private and between me and him. Just know that he couldn't be a better man if he tried."

"You got it bad! Jus' like him." Merle laughed and shook his head. "Enjoy it while ya can. From what I know this puppy love shit don't ever last long. One of y'all's gon' get fed up soon enough. Bet as soon as it turns real serious, mah little brother's gonna chicken out and run for the hills, Chickadee. You'd do better to find a real man who can handle this stuff. And that ain't Daryl, girly... as much as I hate to tell ya that. I mean, yer sweet 'nd all,... Wouldn't mind havin' ya around for the long haul, but that just ain't the Dixon way."

Her blood turned to ice, starting from the tip of her toes and slowly making it's way up. She literally felt frozen in place, because even her fingers got so cold and stiff, that she wasn't able to move them. The usually warm look in her eyes turned into a frosty glare and she wanted to slap the smug grin off of Merle Dixon's face. She swallowed hard and was at a loss for words, but that didn't matter, because Merle wasn't quite done yet.

"Awwww, ya ain't mad at me for speaking the truth, now are ya, Miss Bayanne? That ain't the church way!" he chuckled while he picked out some chewing gum from the small display on the counter. "Relax, I'm all for you crazy kids getting it on... but ya gotta know what yer getting yerself into, Missy. Then again, maybe I'm wrong, maybe y'all last forever. Only time will tell." he reached into his pocket and slapped down a dollar bill on the counter a moment later. "Keep the change. The way I see it, it stays in the family. Am I right?" When Bay continued to give him an icy stare, Merle leaned forward, supporting himself on his forearms on the counter. "Come on, Chickadee. Don't look at me like that. I'm just pullin' yer leg a little. If ya wanna be family, ya gotta get used to it."

"If you want me to be family, then you will have to get used to the fact that I don't think that you're particularly funny." Bay shot back.

"Ha!" Merle barked out a laugh. "I knew there was a reason I liked ya. Feisty little one, aren't ya? Not afraid ta talk back. You got guts, I respect that, girly, but I think ya got it wrong. I don't 'want' ya to be family,... that would be my brother who wants that. I ain't got no problem with that, though. He could have done way worse, gotta admit that. You definitely share some Dixon traits."

Their talk was briefly interrupted by another costumer wanting to pay for his items. Merle studied Bay while she was busy, his eyes traveling down and eying the visible scar on her cleavage. He felt his temper flare up when he thought about what Daryl had told him. There were a lot of bad things Merle had done over the years, but physically hurting a woman wasn't one of them and wouldn't ever be one of the things he would do. The cries and pleas of his hurting momma were burnt into his memory and haunted him in his dreams to this day. He still saw her kneeling on the floor, cradling and protecting her pregnant belly, pleading for Will not to hurt her little boys while he beat both of them in a drunken rage and threatened to stab her in the belly to keep another greedy little bastard from eating his damn English Muffins. Merle didn't know if Bayanne's parents had ever hit her, but he knew that they had been druggies and had left her to her own devices. One of the things they had in common. Like he'd said, he did respect her, she was a nice enough girl, but he was pretty sure that she would end up getting hurt by his little brother. Daryl might be the sweet one of the Dixon brothers, but Merle was sure that just like himself, Daryl wasn't relationship material. It might work out for a while, but one day it would be too much to handle for his baby brother. They had never learned how to have healthy relationships with people, especially not with women and eventually their attempt at a relationship would crash and burn. He was sure of it.

"So... I hear ya convinced my brother to get a real job?" Merle asked when the other man was on his way out the store.

"No, actually. He did that all by himself. Why? Did he tell you that I wanted him to?" Bay had a hard time believing that Daryl would lie about something like that.

"Nah... just thought ya might have had a hand in that... That's what girls do, don't they? Push their men to aim higher? Want more out of life and all that bullshit?"

"I never pushed him into anything. He's gotta do what makes him happy. Who am I to decide what that is?" Bay shrugged casually, suddenly feeling like Merle was giving her the third degree. _Is he making sure his brother is in good hands? My my... that would actually be kind of touching, after trying to ridicule Daryl all the time. _"Wait, I'm lying." Bay remembered the time she had blown up at Daryl after he had made her head spin with his whole 'hot-and-then-cold'-routine. "I told him to make up his mind about what he wanted once. I guess it might have been considered pushy. But other than that? He is old enough to make his own decisions and deal with the consequences."

"You got big plans for yourself from what I hear... College to be a damn shrink, huh? Lemme ask ya somethin'. In case ya come up with the cash and get your fancy degrees and everything... How's Daryl gonna fit into all that? You wanna be the breadwinner? Make him your pretty little housewife to come back to after ya dealt with the nut jobs?"

Bay narrowed her eyes and stared at Merle with her head tilted to the side, and for the first time in his life, Merle felt like he was the insect under the microscope she was studying with interest. He would never admit it, but it made him nervous. "What? Trying ta analyze me now?" he let out a little laugh and shifted in his spot.

"Maybe..." Bay muttered with a frown. "Actually, I'm trying to figure out why you seem to be so concerned that I might want to emasculate your brother, when it's you who calls him Darylina, a blonde little slut and a housewife. I'm wondering why you feel the need to ridicule him all the time, especially in front of his girlfriend. I assume that you know exactly how humiliating that is, which means that you do it on purpose. Now, why would you question me like that about my intentions, when you are actually the one who keeps humiliating, hurting and abandoning him?"

Merle was starting to feel uncomfortable under Bay's intent gaze and he didn't like the direction the conversation had taken at all. His purpose had been to find out more about her and about where she stood where Daryl was concerned, and not for her to pick him apart. "You don't know nothing about us, Chickadee. Ain't never done no such thing to family."

"You really believe that, don't you?" Bay kept her expression neutral, but on the inside she was scoffing. Merle Dixon might just be one of the most delusional and selfish people she had ever met. She was starting to see why everybody was bent out of shape about his return to Dalton. Merle liked to ruffle feathers for fun, but Bay wouldn't let him get under her skin. She had too much experience with drug addicts and their little games. After all, she had lived with two of them for about 6 years. It had destroyed her at first when her parents had gone psycho on her. It had taken Mamaw Eva two long years to teach her granddaughter to rise above it and not to let their games and drug rages get to her, and that it was the drugs messing with their heads, and that deep down, underneath their drug-induced hazes, they still loved her. She was starting to see the same pattern here. Merle cared about Daryl, but he was too selfish to put his little brother ahead of himself and protect him, but he expected Daryl to always put him, Merle, first. _Yeah... now I see it. Merle is the most important person to Merle, yet he still thinks he's done right by Daryl. Guess again, buddy. Because of you leaving, he had to sleep in his car for weeks in the first place. _"What are you afraid of, Merle? That he will abandon **you** for the first time in both of your lives? For me? If that's the case, making fun of him is not exactly the smartest course of action."

"Careful, Miss Bay... nobody likes a know-it-all. Nobody likes a nosy bitch, neither." Merle snarled in a low voice while he angrily clenched his fists.

_Gotcha. 'Nice' to meet the true face of Merle Dixon. You're not as hard to figure out as you might think. _

"You better stop makin' bullshit assumptions while I still like ya, girly." Merle threatened, but it was a weak threat. She had hit him where it hurts and they both knew it. Merle had to admit that this round went to Bayanne.

"Oh I better stop talking then. I wouldn't want to get on your bad side. That would make family get-togethers so awkward and uncomfortable." she smirked and looked up at him as innocently as possible with her big, pretty eyes. They stared at each other in silence for a moment, before Merle cracked up slightly and shook his head.

"You really got some balls, Chickadee. I like and hate it at the same time."

"Believe it or not, Merle, but we are on the same side. We both care about Daryl... I guess that's our common ground."

"Might be." Merle rubbed his chin as he gave her the up-down with his eyes and therefore returned to his slightly sleazy ways. _Really too bad she ain't older. Gotta be a wildcat in the sack. Meeoow motherfucker. _His trade mark grin returned and he grabbed his gum and shoved it in his pocket and finally turned to leave the store. "You have a great day, Miss Bayanne. Give ma best to ma brother."

"Good day to you Merle." Bay smiled overly polite. Suddenly Bay realized that she and Daryl had even more in common than she'd thought. Daryl had lived with Merle and his antics just as long as she had lived with her parents and their antics. She shouldn't have been surprised at all at Daryl's high-strung demeanor. She had been the same way with her parents around, which meant that she should have figured the whole thing out sooner. At least she knew that she would be able to handle Merle and that she would hopefully be able to teach Daryl to not let Merle get to him, the same way her grandma had taught her. She only hoped that it wouldn't take her two years, too. Somehow she felt that Merle was able to do a lot more damage than her parents ever had.

* * *

A couple of days later Bay and Daryl joined their friends for a day of fun at Farmer's Lake. Daryl had been reluctant to go, but he hadn't been able to say no to Bay's begging and her puppy dog eyes. He thought that she shouldn't be swimming and running around in a bikini yet, after just having started to feel better, but Bay was convinced that it was just what she needed. She hadn't mentioned her encounter with Merle to Daryl. She knew that it would just upset him and make him tense again and she wanted to avoid that at all costs, especially after the shitty two weeks they'd had with her being sick and all.

Daryl soon thought that it had been very smart of him to say yes to this trip to the lake, because now him, Sam, Jason and Pete were able to stretch out in the lush green grass and watch their girlfriends play volleyball in their bikinis. They were grinning like idiots at all the bouncing and jiggling that was going on, regretting that they didn't have a video camera. Good for them that young men their age had very good memories where these things were concerned. That the girls hugged and jumped around in victory after every point would sure fuel some new fantasies for the small group of men.

Daryl took pleasure in seeing Bay enjoy herself. After witnessing her laying in bed, exhausted and more or less silently suffering for two weeks, it was great to see her have fun and laugh and smile and be carefree. Bay sucked at volleyball, but she laughed about her own skill-lessness and still gave her all in order to try to score some points for her team. Apart from the guys ogling their girls, Bay was entertaining the whole group with her playing, even having Daryl laugh and thoroughly enjoying the show, but she really wasn't bitter about it at all, and Daryl admired her attitude. She didn't take herself too seriously and wasn't above making a little fun of herself. If it was him, he would lash out at everybody out of insecurity, before he would slink into a corner and shrink into himself and scowl at everybody, daring them to come closer and potentially loose a limb. Maybe that's why they worked so well. They were similar, but then again, they weren't. They were both complex and some of their wires just connected in the right way and sparked a wonderful, big, warm and bright fire. He had never been the kind of person to get infected by other people's happiness, but watching Bay laugh and giggle at her own horrible serves, that regularly landed in the net that was spanned in the middle between the four girls, he couldn't help but smile and laugh and be proud that he was able to call her his. _I love that damn crazy girl._ He knew he was no longer falling in love with her. Some time between them getting high and sexually experimental on her birthday, and her cuddling into his chest in the bathtub, seeking comfort from him during one of her weakest points, he had stopped falling and had reached his destination. He was hopelessly in love with Bayanne Moore. She owned his heart, and he gladly let her own him, because she let him own her in return. She trusted him blindly, she made him feel worthy and like a man, and she gave him a home and a family. And she did it effortlessly and selflessly, never expecting anything in return. She was the girl for him and he'd been lucky enough to get her and be with her. It was a miracle to him.

* * *

Bay wasn't sure if Daryl had fallen asleep or not, because his dark sunglasses were shielding his eyes from view, just like they were shielding them from the bright sunlight. He was stretched out on their blanket in the grass, all by himself, because the other guys had joined their girlfriends and Bay in the lake. She soon felt like the fifth wheel, while the other couples played around, so she trudged out of the water. She quickly straddled him and let her sopping wet form drop into his lap with a giggle. Daryl just grinned and let his hands run up her thighs, squeezing gently. "Ya can't sneak up on me, baby girl."

"I know. I wasn't even trying." she laughed and put her arms around his neck when he had sat up. They shared a kiss and without breaking their contact, Daryl blindly reached for her oversized t-shirt that she had dropped on the blanket before going in the water.

"Here... put it on... don't need ya to get sick again." he mumbled against her lips.

"No chance of you coming in the water with me?" she grinned as she took the shirt out of his hand.

"Ain't takin' ma shirt off, ya know why."

"You don't have to. I'm sure your shirt won't disintegrate if it comes in contact with water." She teased him gently, earning herself a little smack on the butt.

"Smartass!"

"Come on..." she coaxed him and kept giving him little kisses between words. "We can go over to that little landing stage over there. Hide out behind it."

"And get run over and killed by a damn boat? Nah..."

There weren't really any boats, especially not ones that would not see you and run you over, therefore it was clear that Daryl didn't want to go into the water at all. Bay was a bit disappointed. She loved the water and she would have loved to have a good time with him, just like the other couples, however, Daryl just wasn't going for it and she would have to live with it. She pulled back a little and put her shirt on. "Alright." she murmured, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice.

Daryl distracted her by kissing her again, and Bay gladly let herself get distracted after her self-imposed ban on kissing for the last two weeks. They forgot everything around them, until the others came back to their own towels and blankets that were located about three feet away, to allow the couples a tiny bit of privacy, and Daryl started pushing Bay off of him. "What's wrong?" she asked in a near whisper with a frown when he tried to make it look like they were good buddies instead of a couple.

"Nothing." he shrugged. "Jus' don't need an audience."

"You do realize that they know that we're together, right? And that they were able to see us from the water?" Bay asked him with a slightly incredulous expression on her face. Daryl started chewing on his lip nervously. She had a point, he hadn't even thought about that. "Also, what makes you think they would spend their time watching us? They are busy doing their own things." When he didn't reply she huffed quietly. "Fine... if you're ashamed of me... " This time the disappointment was crystal clear in her voice, and Daryl felt like an ass for causing it.

"Hey, come one... don't be that way." he sighed and carefully pulled her back to straddle his lap again. "Just ain't used to this..."

"They are not gonna watch us any more than we watch them... and how often do we watch them kiss?" Bay asked, making Daryl chuckle quietly.

"Only as long as it takes for us to turn our heads before we start throwing up." he was laughing, but he was still very serious. He liked watching porn, but he'd never liked watching his friends make out with their girls. He hadn't thought about them probably feeling the same way about watching him and Bay.

"Exactly." she smiled and put her arms back around his neck. "Also... I thought Daryl Dixon wasn't afraid of anything?" she grinned teasingly. "It's a little weird for me, too, you know? People seeing us kiss? But I don't care about them taking a peek. I only care about you and about being with you. I love kissing you too much to stop doing it just because our friends are around. It shouldn't matter who might or might not be watching." she explained quietly. "Kiss me, Daryl. Don't think about them. Think about me. Think about us." she was challenging him, hoping that he would be one of those typical rednecks that never backed down from a challenge. She wanted a normal relationship with him, she didn't want to hide and sneak around. Everybody knew they were an item, so why make a big deal out of it and hide every time they wanted to kiss? Bay didn't want to hide, she wanted to celebrate what they had and she didn't mind others seeing how happy he made her feel. She never asked anything of him, but this was something she wanted him to do for her. She wanted him to overcome that feeling of shame and be openly proud of what they shared and not give her the feeling like he was ashamed to be seen with her.

Daryl's eyes were still hidden by the sunglasses, but Bay was able to tell that his gaze flicked over to their friends. She felt more disappointment quell up inside of her and was ready to get off his lap again, in order to get back into the water and try to get a clear head, but Daryl's hand on the back of her neck stopped her, as he roughly pulled her back to him and captured her lips with his own. Bay released a joyful giggle before she melted into the kiss, gently cradling his face in her hands and soothingly stroking her thumbs back and forth over his cheekbones, trying to ease his nervousness a little. It took a minute, but by the time Bay clung to his shoulders as his tongue made love to her mouth, he really forgot everything else around them and was only focused on her, just like it should be. He didn't notice, that the others did sneak a couple of looks at them, just out of curiosity, because they hadn't seen the couple act too couple-y so far, and they had been together for over a month by now.

"They look so good together." Erin smiled in a whisper. "They make a hot couple, don't you think?"

"If you say so." Sam snickered. Now that Bay and Daryl had finally gotten together, he didn't spend too much time thinking about them anymore, unlike his girlfriend. That's just how girls were, he figured. "Getting turned on watching them kiss?" Sam grinned while he slid his big hands on Erin's firm, round butt and gave it a good squeeze.

"Maybe a little." Erin laughed jokingly. "They are beautiful and it looks like Daryl's a pretty good kisser. Nice tongue action."

"Hey! Whatchu paying attention to his tongue for, dirty girl?" Sam narrowed his eyes at her in mock-jealousy and slapped her ass lightly.

"Just happened. Wanna get back in the water?" she wriggled her eyebrows, while she ground her pelvis against his as inconspicuously as possible.

"Definitely." he grinned and gave her a little kiss before they got up and hurriedly made their way into the lake water, swimming a little further out than before, so nobody would see too clearly what they would be doing out there.

Daryl and Bay were blissfully unaware of anything going on around them. Daryl had noticed that nobody paid them any mind (at least that's what he believed now, not having noticed Erin and Sam watching them for a minute), so by now they were innocently kissing like it was going out of style tomorrow, while Jason and Pete were doing the same with their girlfriends until it was time to go back home.

* * *

"Any chance of you getting in the water with me here? In our home? Where it's just the two of us? It's been a while..." Bay asked smilingly when they were back at their apartment.

"Yeah." Daryl nodded with a little smile. "Just... ummm,.." he trailed off, not knowing what to say.

Bay looked at him questioningly while she filled two glasses with water. She set the bottle down on the counter and sighed. "I knew there was something wrong. I've felt it for days..."

"Wrong? Nothing's wrong, Bay." Daryl smiled reassuringly. "Seriously. There's something you don't know yet, though... Ain't bad, I promise." he quickly added when a nervous expression passed over her features.

"What?" Bay still felt very nervous. As much as she enjoyed being with him, the happiness came with the price of always being a bit scared that he might grow tired of her. She hadn't wanted to let Merle get under her skin, but him telling her that Daryl might run for the hills definitely hadn't helped.

Daryl chewed on his bottom lip while he walked over to her. She expected him to wrap his arms around her, but he stopped before he got too close, leaving about two feet of space between them. He gathered the hem of his black sleeveless t-shirt in his hands and pulled it up. Bay watched him take it off with a frown on her face, as she was utterly puzzled by his behavior. She was just about to ask him what he was doing and what in the hell it was that she didn't know yet, when her eyes noticed something different about him. It took her a moment to realize what it was, but when she did, a gasp escaped her and tears started welling up in her eyes.

Bayanne.

Her name was now adorning the left side of Daryl's chest just above his nipple... right on top of his heart. Big letters, written with black ink and in a beautiful and elegant script. _He's wearing my name on his heart... Holy shit..._She was speechless and relieved, because now his reluctance to take baths with her finally made sense. He wanted it to heal first before he would let her see it. Daryl watched her nervously as she opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, but no words would come out, she was just silently crying and staring at his chest.

"You don't hate it, do ya?" he asked with a little insecure chuckle when she just wouldn't say anything.

"No." she croaked out. Her mind was racing, just as much as her heart was. _Does this mean...? You don't tattoo someone's name on your chest if you don't... love... that person... right? _She was scared by that, but at the same time she felt like he was wrapping a warm and protective blanket around her, making her feel safe, sheltered and,... well,... loved. It was a weird sensation, but not an unpleasant one. It was just a little overwhelming. She seriously didn't know what the appropriate response would be to him doing this, so she just said the first thing that came to mind. "You know that's permanent, don't you?"

"That's the point..." he muttered around his thumbnail, which he had started chewing on by now. He didn't know what exactly he had expected, but it had definitely been something more ecstatic on her part. _Maybe she's jus' really shocked? _He watched her, almost warily, as she closed the distance between them, her eyes trained on his newest tattoo. Carefully she lifted her arm and traced the letters with her index finger softly.

"It's beautiful." she smiled quietly. "You are crazy..."

_Crazy 'bout you. _He smiled and slowly wrapped his arms around her to pull her closer. "Nah, ain't crazy. This is actually the first one I got stone cold sober."

_What does it mean? _Bay wanted to ask, but she didn't dare. They were doing fine without putting any more labels on their relationship and she wasn't ready to hear him say out loud that he might love her. Something about it just scared the living daylights out of her. Right now they were living in their own little dream world. Admitting feelings out loud would make it real and she was not ready to let go of their dream world yet. _Love destroys._ She wasn't ready to risk any damage to what they had right now. "Is that a yes on taking a shower with me?" she smiled and tried to distract herself from her confusing feelings.

"Yeah. Guess that can be arranged now." Daryl was smiling, but deep deep down he felt the slightest pang of disappointment at her reaction. She liked it and she was touched, sure, but something felt off. Unfortunately he wasn't able to put his finger on it. Maybe it was just his imagination, too. He tried to shake it off and focused on other things, like her wet body standing under the hot spray of the shower.

* * *

**I'm sorry for the cliffhanger. I wanted to put the smut in this chapter as well, but I just don't know if I will get to write it before Tuesday or Wednesday, and I didn't want to keep you guys waiting that long, so I split the chapter into two parts. We will start the next one right where this one left off, i.e. smut.**

**Thank you for reading!**

**Thank you for all the support. There's a lot going on right now, which takes up a lot of time. I hope after next week things will go back to normal and I will be back to my regular update schedule. No promises, though. Real life is tough these days.**

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews. Please forgive me for not responding, I feel horrible about it, but I literally don't have time. I apologize profusely for not thanking all of you personally these days. Like I said, I hope all that will be back to normal soon. Thank you so sososososososo much guys!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Attention: For those who wanted a warning, here it is. We will jump into the ZA very soon. Probably in about 2 chapters from now. Looks like we might arrive just in time for the show to be back on air:-) Best motivation ever. **

* * *

**Chapter 19**

Daryl had her squirming and moaning within a few minutes of climbing into the bathtub, and his ability to get her to that point this quick never failed to make him proud. Bay had moved the shower head along their bodies, wetting them before they soaped up. She only had the hand-held shower head, but not the wall mount thingy, so showering meant having to hold up the shower head by hand, which is why she preferred to take baths if she had enough time. She had only wanted a quick shower to wash off the lake and sun-screen, but Daryl had other ideas. Once their bodies were nice and slippery, he sat down on the edge of the tub with his back against the wall. He pulled Bay into his lap, with her back against his chest, giving him good access to her front. His slippery hands were massaging and squeezing her perky, wet breasts, his equally slippery thumbs giving her wonderful friction when he rubbed them over her nipples rhythmically. It was pulling the best, lusty moans from her throat, having him solid as steel in no time at all.

When she started moving her hips and ass, Daryl adjusted their position slightly, and pushed his hard cock between her thighs. He put his hands on the outside of her legs and exerted pressure, showing her to clamp them shut, therefore pinning his erection between her soft flesh and massaging him in the triangle between her pussy and her thighs, while he kept playing with her tits. "Can ya cum like this?" he panted against her neck while she moved her pelvis in the most brain-melting ways, making him rub against her pussy and basically giving him a 'thigh job' since she didn't have one of them so called thigh-gaps. A fact that Daryl got a big amount of pleasure out of right this moment.

"No... Can you? Is this good?" she was gasping, partly out of breath from moving around, partly out of breath due to his skilled fingers rolling and tugging her nipples.

"Yeah, but you first, baby girl." he groaned and grabbed the back of her right leg, yet again shifting their position slightly and sitting up straighter. He made her spread her legs and rest them on top of his. Bay curled her feet around his ankles, anchoring her position as she rested her torso back against his chest when he slid one hand down her belly and through her curls. "Mmmmmm..." he unconsciously groaned his appreciation against her neck when he found her clit hard and swollen, just waiting for him to touch it. He rubbed it with two soapy fingers, giving her slippery friction she had never felt before, and for a second, he was afraid she was going to fall off his lap, because she jerked so hard.

"Holy mother of uuuunnnfffff..." she yelped as involuntary shakes wracked her body with every stroke of his fingers.

"That's soap for ya." Daryl grinned and kept up his quick rhythm. "It's good, ain't it?"

"Yeah... " she closed her eyes and focused on her pleasure, letting her upper body sag back against his as her hips moved against his hand. "So good..."

It took him less than two minutes to stroke her to orgasm like that. Having her in his lap while she was in the throes of her climax was the best thing ever and he enjoyed every tremble and every gasp and moan it evoked. Before long she was turning around, now straddling him and facing him again. She grabbed the bottle of his shower gel and squirted some into her palm before she wrapped it around his pulsing length, quickly working it up into a lather when she moved her fist up and down his thick erection. While she jerked him off, Daryl was indulging in his favorite pastime, cupping her tits, squeezing them and playing with her nipples. He loved being able to pull those soft, sexy moans from her by doing that, and her sounds always heightened his experience.

"Faster, baby girl. No teasing." he breathed. His aroused tone of voice gave Bay the best chills and hardened her nipples almost painfully. "Seeing you on the beach in that bikini was enough teasing for one day." he grinned lazily as he leaned his head back against the wall and alternated between watching her hand massage his cock, and watching his own hands playing with her perky breasts.

Bay picked up the pace while her gaze traveled to Daryl's chest and his brand new tattoo. It looked absolutely gorgeous on him, but the possible meaning intimidated her and send her pulse racing in a slight panic. She knew that they were both in deep, she knew that their feelings for each other were there and were strong, but to have big glaring proof of his feelings staring back at her from his chest,... it would take some getting used to. She tore her eyes away from her own name on his body and focused on his beautiful face, which was currently contorted from the pleasure she was giving him. His teeth were clenched and he was grunting quietly as she twisted her hand around his tip on every upward stroke, bringing him closer to finding his own release. She heard his breaths coming out harsher and faster and a second later she felt his cock start to contract as he erupted all over her hand. Bay grabbed the shower head and guided it over his lower body, rinsing his essence off of his body and her hands before she rinsed the remaining soap off of their bodies. Then she put the shower head back to hang over the faucet and turned off the water. She didn't stay to cuddle, but got right out of the tub to dry off instead.

"What's the hurry?" Daryl was still out of breath and frowning at her actions.

"Hungry." she smiled and handed him a clean towel so he could start drying off too.

"Mhm." he grunted quietly, not really buying her explanation, or should he say excuse?

Bay dressed in black cotton panties and a black tank top with spaghetti straps. She didn't bother brushing her wet hair before she walked out and into the kitchen to fix them something to eat, while Daryl used some deodorant and put on clean boxer shorts, before he joined her in the kitchen.

"Everything alright?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious. Don't want ya to get sick again. Was a long two weeks."

"It certainly was." she looked up at him over her shoulder and kissed him gently. "I feel good. Nothing to worry about."

Daryl nodded and let it rest. _Maybe she just had some kind of moment, _he thought, because after dinner, she was back to her usual self, watching TV, laughing and cuddling with him.

They were watching some documentary about lions, more by accident than by choice, but somehow they didn't switch the channel.

"I love lions. They are so strong and beautiful." Bay smiled and thought that the lions reminded her of Daryl.

"Yeah, they're pretty feral. That's cool." Daryl mumbled, earning himself a funny look from Bay. "What?"

"That's not how you pronounce feral." Bay explained. Daryl hadn't said feral which rhymes with carol, but he had pronounced it fee-ral.

"I know that it's not right... just keeps coming out that way." Daryl shrugged casually, like his explanation was the most logical thing in the world.

"What?" Bay laughed. "What do you mean it just keeps coming out that way? If you know it's wrong, why do you say it like that?"

"Just happens. Don't use that word too much anyway. No need to correct myself I reckon."

"Okay, but in case you ever accidentally call me Bee instead of Bay, you're not gonna keep calling me that, right?" she teased him laughingly and poked him in the ribs.

"Very funny." He narrowed his eyes at her playfully and tried to swat her hand away. "Stop it!"

"Gonna call yourself Deeryl?"

"Stop it!" he caught both her hands and pinned them to the bed next to her head.

"Oh, what about Pat? Gonna call him Peet?" Bay kept teasing him, but Daryl wasn't offended by it. He was glad things were normal again.

"I said stop it!" he growled as he laid down on top of her between her spread legs.

"Make me, you feeeeral lion!" Bay challenged him with a cheeky grin.

"You're gonna regret that." Daryl laughed quietly before he kissed her hard. "Maybe not today... not tomorrow... but one day... you're gon' pay!" he bit out between kisses until he made them both shut up and pushed his tongue into her mouth, letting it swirl around hers, before he withdrew and made her chase it into his mouth.

They soon forgot all about their playful teasing. Daryl was the best kisser and he was figuratively smooching Bay's brains out. She was pliant in his strong grip, letting him take what he wanted, while she enjoyed what he was giving in return. He sucked at her neck for a moment, but this time not enough to leave a mark. Bay still enjoyed it very much to feel his lips on her skin and she was barely aware of how he pushed up her tank top up to reveal her naked breasts, but she was every bit aware of how his lips closed around her nipple and how he sucked at it and let her feel his teeth. Instinctively she tried to bury her hand in his hair to keep his mouth in place, but he was still pinning her hands to the bed while he suckled at her, and Bay felt a little thrill rush through her veins. It was hot to have him restrain her like that.

"Mmmmm,... ooohh that's so good." Bay moaned quietly with closed eyes when Daryl let the very tip of his tongue rub and circle her hard nipple. His hair was falling in his eyes and brushing and tickling her breasts while he manipulated her nipples with his mouth and Bay soon started squirming and bucking her pelvis up against him to seek friction. Her breasts were really sensitive, every time he caressed or kissed them she felt the wetness start to form between her legs almost immediately.

_So goddamn responsive. _Daryl grinned and tugged on her nipple with his teeth, making her yelp and arch her back. "Like that, sweetheart?"

"Yes. Do it again!" she muttered under her breath.

"What's the magic word, baby girl?" Daryl murmured between placing little kisses all around her nipple.

"Feeeral." She moaned seductively before she burst out into giggles.

Daryl didn't say anything, instead his grip on her wrists tightened and he chose a nice fleshy spot on her breast and sunk his teeth into it, growling quietly while he did it.

"Ow! Daryl!" She was laughing while she was complaining, he wasn't biting down unbearably hard. She struggled against him while she giggled and Daryl was surprised to find himself painfully hard in an instant when she started playfully fighting his grip on her. "I'm sorry. Okay? I'm sorry. I'll never tease you again."

Daryl finally tore his mouth away from her breasts, but this was far from over. He was intrigued by his own reaction and also by her reaction to his biting and he wanted to explore it. "I don't believe ya, Bay." he murmured as he brought her hands together in the middle right above her head. He needed one hand free, so he gripped both of her slim wrists in one of his big hands. "You been a bad girl." he rasped and the words paired with that tone of voice had Bay shivering. Her giggles quickly died down as her breath hitched in her throat. Her eyes glazed over, pupils blown as a heavy wave of arousal rolled through her body and left her center weeping. She stared at him wide-eyed and panting, a look which had Daryl feeling proud and powerful and horny as hell. He lowered his head and licked along the outer shell of her ear, letting her feel his hot breath against her skin before he whispered into her ear. "And bad girls get punished, Bay." he fought a grin when he felt her exhale a shuddering breath and felt her body tremble under his.

Bay was highly aroused just by his words and keeping her hands immobilized. It confused her to no end. She never had any fantasies, so she knew that she most definitely never had any fantasies about being a bad girl who gets punished by an authority figure or something like that, but obviously it was something that really got her going, to her own surprise. She held her breath in anticipation when he licked down the middle of her chest, growling once more when he licked right across her necklace before he ventured to the right. He used his hand to push her breast up slightly while he licked it, and then he bit down again in a spot right next to his previous bite.

"Aaahh..." Bay moaned and jerked once. Daryl's biting turned into hard sucking while he shifted his position slightly and straddled one of her thighs instead of laying between her legs. He needed room to work as his free hand now trailed down her body, his fingers itching to be inside of her.

_Would ya look at that..._ he thought surprised when his fingers slipped into her panties and down to her opening and found her very, very wet. He groaned appreciatively and let his middle and ring finger enter her right away, pressing his palm against her clit and letting her move her hips to get some pressure and friction. He moved his mouth to yet another spot on her breast and bit down anew. Bay hissed and this time he was able to feel her walls clamp down on his fingers as she bucked up and tried to get his fingers moving. _Damn baby girl. Yer turned on by this. My good girl __**does**__like it a bit rough._ That sent his brain into overdrive and his actions became a bit more frenzied. He placed little bites all over her breasts, even biting her hardened peaks and letting his teeth scrape at them while he tugged and pinched, elongating her nipples until they plopped out from between his teeth. Bay was moaning up a storm and pumping her hips at a fast pace, trying to get his fingers to move.

"Please! Daryl please!" she moaned out a desperate plea.

"Please what?" he asked under his labored breath. His skin was glistening with sweat, just like hers was, both of them were extremely aroused.

"Please, I need you. Help me..." she was begging him to make her cum, he knew that without her saying it explicitly. He removed his finger from her and knelt up. He hooked his fingers into the sides of her panties and tugged them off of her. While they landed on the floor by the sofa-bed, Daryl pushed down his boxer shorts and tore them off of his legs before he got back between her legs. He took hold of his straining erection and rubbed the moist tip through her wet folds, teasing her clit for a moment before he laid down fully on top of her, shoving his arms underneath her back to wrap her up in his embrace completely before he started moving his hips and rubbed his hard dick against her soft, wet pussy. Bay wrapped her legs around his waist and crossed her ankles behind his butt as her hands held on to his sides when he started to move. They kissed sloppily, their harsh breathing filling the room as Daryl tried to make them both cum by dry-humping. It felt great, but this time it wasn't enough for Bay.

"Daryl?" she gasped and looked at him, waiting for him to open his eyes. "I need you!"

"Ya got me... "

"No, I mean... I need you... inside..." she uttered and Daryl froze, stilling all movements.

"What?" he asked, slightly dumbfounded, even as Bay's hand reached between them and took hold of his cock and guided it down to her opening.

"I want us to do it right. I want you... all the way. Please. I'm ready." she looked up at him timidly. She really was ready, but that didn't mean that she wasn't nervous. She was shaking, which Daryl noticed and it prompted him to ask if she was really sure. "I am sure. Very sure. Remember what I told you once... just because I'm nervous doesn't mean I don't want it. I want it. I want you... please."

Despite her nervousness, Daryl was still able to see the certainty in her eyes. She really did want it. The moment had come, he would take her virginity and make her his once and for all. _Fuck, now I'm nervous. _His emotions were conflicting. He couldn't wait to feel her stretch around him, but he was also terrified of really hurting her. However he knew, that she was as wet as she was ever gonna be and his fingers had stretched her a little bit before. _Shit, what's the best course of action here? Go slow or do it like rippin' off a damn band-aid? Just plunge in? Fuck, should'a asked Pat after all. _"Might hurt..." he murmured, trying not to show his own nervousness and also not his big excitement.

"I know." she smiled reassuringly. "But it'll be worth it. Please." she was grasping his butt in both hands now and pushing down, trying to get him to push into her, showing him that she didn't want to wait any longer. Daryl nodded and reached down to position himself a bit better. He took one deep breath and then he slowly started to push his thick erection into her tight, virginal opening. Her wetness definitely made things a lot easier and he soon felt her velvety soft walls engulf him as he pushed on and opened her up for him. He felt like he was high, the rush he was experiencing at finally being inside of her and being her very first was making him quake and tremble and his blood was singing with male pride and his inner cave man was doing a happy dance. He was almost ashamed to admit it, but her little whimpers were causing little spikes of pleasure to shoot through his body, enhancing his experience. "It hurt bad?" he ground out between clenched teeth, his reasonable voice finally able to push through his pleasure-filled haze to make sure she was okay.

"No, keep going." Bay gasped out. It didn't hurt, but there was definitely uncomfortable pressure. Holy shit, so much pressure and stretching, which shouldn't be a surprise because he was damn big, but it took some getting used to. There were a ton of tiny sharp pinpricks and a bit of a dull aching sensation as he kept going. It wasn't too bad, just new and in a way it felt amazing and she tried to memorize that feeling, knowing that she might never experience this again. There would never be a second 'first time', and she wanted to remember this moment for the rest of her life.

Daryl pushed in as deep as he could go in this position. He didn't have it in him to wait and let her adjust. Honestly, it didn't even cross his mind, because his mind was screaming at him to move, to fuck her and give it to her good. At least he went slow when he pulled back out almost all the way only to push back in, quickly developing a slow rhythm. Bay wasn't complaining or stopping him, so she had to be okay. He knew she would stop him if she wasn't.

And she was okay. With every thrust the pressure let up and by the fifth or sixth thrust inside, she was able to relax and enjoy the sensation of him being inside of her. It felt good and it made her so happy, that tears welled up in her eyes. Daryl was about to stop when he noticed, but she giggled and shook her head. "No. Keep going. It's good. It's really really good." That had Daryl grinning and he quickly crashed his lips down on hers and kissed her passionately while he increased the pace of his thrusting.

"Still good?" he asked when he was delivering faster strokes.

"Yes. Don't worry. Just keep going." she moaned. It started to feel **really** good now and after a couple of minutes she was spurring him on with moans of 'faster' and 'harder'. It was the weirdest, but also the best sensation to have him plunge his hard cock into her over and over again and she wished they would be able to do this forever without stopping. But Daryl was close to losing it. He was surprised that he was able to hold out this long, but that was probably due to his orgasm in the shower. He was close and he couldn't wait to finally cum inside of her, but there was one thing he wanted first. He wanted her to cum on his cock. It was her first time and he wanted to make it count.

"No, don't stop, please." Bay moaned and tried to keep him in place when he pushed up on his hands.

"Don't worry, baby girl. Ain't stopping. Just gotta change position a little ta make ya cum good." he grinned. He knelt up and carefully lifted one of her legs until her ankle was resting on his shoulder. He grasped her hips and pulled her closer into his lap, immediately sliding into her deeper, making her breath hitch, when he reached the end of her. "Sorry."

"No... it's good." Bay closed her eyes as little tremors rocked her body once more at the new sensation. She didn't see Daryl licking his thumb and bringing it down to her clit, but she certainly felt the little circles he was rubbing while he pushed himself into her with little, persistent thrusts. Bay grabbed the sheets as lust shot through her like never before. It felt unbelievably good and she knew he was going to keep his promise and make her cum good. "Oh God... oh baby..."

His thumb and his hips picked up speed fast, spurred on by her moans and little shouts of pleasure. "Come on, baby girl... Almost there... I can feel it." he groaned as he fought to keep himself from cumming while her walls started fluttering around him. He pressed his thumb down on her clit and rapidly moved it back and forth, making her scream and arch her back and hips, pressing herself against him even harder. "Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck oooohh Daryl!" she came, and she came hard and wet. Her pussy milked him like there was no tomorrow and Daryl felt like he was going cross-eyed as his own climax ripped through his body like a damn freight train. He groaned her name as he pumped himself into her at an unsteady rhythm a couple more times, before he finally collapsed on top of her panting, sweaty form. Bay blindly grabbed his head in her hands and placed kisses on his lips and face, not really paying attention where her lips connected with his skin while she tried to catch her breath.

"Wow." she giggled after a while.

"Yeah." Daryl laughed out of breath. "Wow." He kissed her lovingly and smiled at her while he smoothed some hair out of her face that had gotten stuck to her sweaty forehead. _I love ya, Bay. You're fucking amazing._

* * *

**3 months later, 25****th**** October 1998**

Time passed quickly when you didn't do much else other than go to work, have sex with your boyfriend and sleep. Bay felt like she was able to count the real conversations they've had in the past three months, using only her two hands. Not that she was complaining though. She'd had a late start to sex and in the past couple of months they had gotten her up to speed and neither of them had a problem with that. And also this Sunday afternoon they were once again entangled in her sheets, the late afternoon fall sun shining through the window and directly on them, heating their bodies up even more as Daryl plowed his dick into her hard and fast while clutching her breast. They were in their "waking up position" Bay on her side, half on her stomach and Daryl behind and almost on top of her. It had turned out to be one of their favorite positions, because they were able to vary the depth of penetration by Bay angling and/or lifting her top leg. He was also able to play with her breasts or her clit, which meant maximum fun for the both of them.

"Fuck..." Daryl groaned under his breath when he came, and rested his forehead against her shoulder while he kept pushing his dick into her slowly during his aftershocks. Bay put her hand on top of his and gently pulled his hand off her breast and up to her mouth, kissing his fingertips and knuckles. She giggled quietly and let her tongue circle one of his fingertips before she closed her lips around it, bursting out laughing when Daryl groaned, sounding almost pained.

"Tease." he muttered and nuzzled her shoulder. "Shit... why ya gotta go?"

"Never hurts to make a little extra money. And hey,... free dinner for both of us."

"It's just pizza." Daryl sighed.

"Free pizza." she corrected him with a gentle smile. "Lighten up. Once Julian is in bed I'll sneak you into the house and we can still spend quality time together."

"We can't fuck."

"We could. Just gotta be quick and quiet." she shrugged and kissed his palm. Daryl finally pulled out of her and rubbed his hands through his face after rolling on his back.

"Damn... we forgot to use a damn rubber again."

"Right. We really gotta get better where that's concerned. We been lucky so far. But those things are so expensive." Bay said as she turned on her other side and snuggled up to him.

"A baby would be even more expensive." Daryl reminded her with a laugh.

"I know. But like I said, I haven't had my period in almost a year, so we're on the safe side, I guess."

"And like I said, shouldn't you go see someone 'bout that? Ain't normal, right?"

"It happens. Stress is a factor I suppose. But I feel fine and I'm not sad about not having my period anymore. I used to have bad cramps and headaches... no fun."

"I ain't no expert on woman things, Bay, but to me you not getting your shit means that something ain't right in there. Ain't working right no more. Ya didn't donate yer damn eggs because ya wanted to make sure that everything stayed okay, so why aren't ya making sure now? Don't want no kids later after all?"

"Yes Dad, I'll see a doctor soon." She rolled her eyes at him. He was always so concerned about her. She knew he meant well, but sometimes she didn't want to hear it.

"Gonna take that pill again? That makes sure nothing's gonna happen?"

"Yes, tomorrow after work." Bay nodded. She hated the morning after pill, it made her feel like shit and for that alone they should finally learn their lesson and start using protection religiously. There was no excuse not to use a condom, but they often forgot everything around them once they got to be alone together. It was irresponsible, it could mess up Bay's plans for the future, they both knew that and yet it still happened every once in a while.

"Awesome." he rubbed his face once more. "An hour of fun really ain't worth you feeling like shit for two days."

"I know. We'll be more careful from now on."

"That's what we said the last two times." Daryl scoffed.

"Third time's the charm." Bay smiled and stretched out her limbs. "Mmmm, I gotta get ready. I don't want to be late."

"Alright. Come here." he pulled her on top of him and before she knew what he was doing, he slapped her bare ass.

"Daryl!" she laughed and gently swatted at his chest.

"Don't roll your eyes at me again, baby girl. There's more where that came from." he mock-threatened, referring to the slap.

Bay tried to keep her expression casual while that little thrill rushed through her body again. Every time he did something like this, it did something to her and she was a little embarrassed to admit it, so she mostly didn't. "Yes Sir." she murmured and cursed herself when her voice came out squeakier than she had intended. Instinctively she touched her cross necklace after finally having gotten out of bed and sighed internally. _God help me. The things this man can make me like..._She would once again have a lot to confess in her silent prayers at church next Sunday. She had stopped going to a "real" confession. She would never be able to bring herself to say certain things out loud to a man of the cloth, so she did it silently just for herself. Daryl knew about that, and knowing that he made her sin on a daily basis turned him on even more. He was doing a very good job at corrupting his good little girl.

* * *

"You hear something?" Daryl perked up when he thought he'd heard a noise coming from somewhere inside the house.

"No. Everything's quiet. Keep going." she breathed and pushed his head back down underneath her skirt where he had pushed her underwear aside and was eating her out. Daryl listened for a moment longer, but when things remained quiet he ducked back down and kept going, circling her clit with his wet, hot tongue before he sucked it into his mouth and gave it little wet flicks with the tip of his skilled muscle.

"Oh shit... that's so good. You're so good at this, Daryl." Bay was whispering and grabbing her own breasts while he went to town on her. "Can we move? I wanna do you, too."

Before Daryl was able to reply his head shot up again, eyes narrowed and ears perked. "The kid is up!"

"You're being paranoid." Bay laughed and sat up. She kissed him and slowly pushed him on his back. "Everything is alright." she kissed him passionately, loving tasting herself on his tongue, until she heard a noise herself. She tore her lips from his and looked up towards the doorway that led to the hall. She almost shrieked in shock, when little Julian, dressed in his Spider-Man pj's, stood in that doorway, rubbing his eyes. "Oh my God." Bay quickly climbed off of Daryl and walked towards Julian.

"Told you." Daryl mumbled and wiped his thumb over his moist lips.

"Julian, what's wrong? Can't sleep?" Bay asked gently and lifted the almost 2-year old into her arms when he lifted them up towards her. "Uuuhhh... I see what's going on. Or should I say I smell what's going on?" she laughed when she caught a whiff of him, making the toddler giggle. Apparently his diaper was full. She carried him over to the sofa, where his mother kept a small stack of diapers and the wet wipes on the broad back rest of the sofa, hidden behind big throw pillows. Julian was too big for the changing table, so she changed him on the sofa. The boy eyed Daryl curiously while Bay laid him down and pulled down his pajama pants.

"Hiiiii..." Julian grinned at Daryl, making Daryl smile back at him.

"Hey."

"Hiiii..."

"Hey."

"Hiiii..."

"Good Lord." Daryl laughed.

"That's kids for you. He can do that for an hour without getting bored." Bay smiled. "Hand me the wet wipes and a diaper please?"

"Damn, what they feed him? Rotten eggs?" Daryl made a face while he handed her the items she had asked for.

"Don't breathe through your nose." She smiled and proceeded to clean Julian up.

"Nose!" Julian pointed to his own, then he looked over at Daryl and pointed at his. "Nose!"

"That's right. Smart guy." Daryl praised him, causing the boy to grin even wider. "What else ya know? Know where your ears are?" Julian pointed at Daryl's ears. "Those are my ears. Where are yours? Ya know?" Julian pointed at Daryl's ears again and this time Daryl poked Julian in the ribs. "**Your** ears. Where are your ears?"

Julian laughed and squirmed, not making Bay's job easier, but this time he pointed at his own ears. "That's right, there are your ears. And yer mouth?" Julian proudly pointed at his lips, while Bay finished up.

"There, all done. Back to bed with you." she smiled, but Julian quickly protested.

"No!" he shouted and turned on his back and quickly crawled over to Daryl and plopped down on his lap, making Daryl almost yell out in pain, because the little boy had thrown his full weight down on Daryl's jeans-clad privates.

"Shit, dude. Damn near castrated me just now." Daryl winced and carefully shifted Julian a little.

"Sit! Sit!" the little boy giggled, making Bay's eyes widen.

"Please don't tell me you are repeating what Daryl just said. Your mother is going to kill me. Daryl, you have to watch your language around him."

"Sorry. He crushed my nuts."

"Hm... at least we'd save money for condoms." Bay laughed when Daryl shot her an exasperated look. She watched Julian get comfortable and lean back against Daryl's chest, while Daryl didn't quite know what to do. "He likes you."

"Ain't done nothing." Daryl shrugged, but he still felt a little proud that the toddler was taking to him like that.

"You have a friendly face and you played with him. Looks like you're good with kids." she smiled, surprised that she thought it was kind of a turn on.

"Bus! Bus!" Julian demanded, making Bay groan.

"Again? Alright fine, I'll sing the song and then you go to bed." Bay had to sing the song what had felt like a hundred times to get him into bed in the first place. She was sick of it, but of course she wouldn't deny the boy his wish, especially not if it would get him back into bed.

"The wheels on the bus go round and round,

round and round, round and round,

the wheels on the bus go round and round.

all through the town.

The wipers on the bus go swish-swish-swish,

swish-swish-swish, swish-swish-swish,

the wipers on the bus go swish-swish-swish,

all through the town."

Bay had only wanted to sing the song once, but she had noticed Julian's eyes starting to droop and fall shut, so she kept singing quietly until the boy had fallen back asleep in Daryl's arms. "Thank God." she whispered. "I used to like that song, but not anymore after today."

"That's kids for ya." Daryl grinned quietly, repeating her own words from earlier back to her.

"That's right." she smiled and watched the two of them for a moment, her mind wandering while she did it. Apparently Daryl's mind was wandering in the same direction.

"Think we're gonna have something like this one day?" he asked quietly, staring down at Julian's blond head of hair. "A house, a kid... livin' in a nicer town?"

"Might be a very long time until then, but yeah. Why not?" Bay replied, to which Daryl shrugged.

"Dunno... Jus'... sometimes I think Merle's right. You're gonna go to college, work after your classes, then you'll have papers to write... No time for me left."

"Don't be silly. There will always be time for you left." Bay frowned.

"Still,... what after? When you're a real shrink, make good money, and I ain't nothin' but an assistant to a cabinetmaker? And that's if I'll be able to keep that job. Like... what's it gonna be like? Doctor and Daryl Dixon? Ya know? That's where Merle is right... Where do I fit into that?"

"You fit into that just fine, Daryl. Don't listen to Merle. He likes to feed people this bullshit. Don't let him get to you. Especially not now. He's more high than not these days." Bay was slightly disgusted with Merle by now. He had fallen off the wagon. He was no longer just transporting crystal meth, he was also sampling the goods quite a bit, and getting himself in trouble with dangerous people.

"Maybe,... but one thing is true... I'm more committed to this than you are." Daryl stated quietly what he'd been thinking and fearing the past couple of months.

"That's not true, Daryl. You know that it isn't."

"Do I?"

"Oh come on... It's not like you tell me how you feel about me." Bay had to remind herself to keep her voice down, because Julian was still in Daryl's arms.

"I don't have to. Your name on my chest tells ya every day, but ya don't wanna hear it. It's been like that ever since I first showed you. Don't tell me that it ain't true, 'cause that would be a lie. Don't think I haven't noticed. I ain't dense."

"Never said that you were, Daryl." Bay sighed deeply. She had known that it would come up sometime, but she really hadn't anticipated to have this talk today. "And you know very well that just because I haven't said it yet, that doesn't mean that I don't feel it. What do you want me to do? Put your name on my chest, too? I told you that you are the only man I will ever want in my life. If that's not a declaration of love, then I don't know what is."

"Ya also said that it scares ya, and that don't sound like love ta me."

"It's not true. Yes it scares me. Love scares me, because everyone I ever loved has left me Daryl. I'm scared of you leaving, too. It would destroy me. I was able to take the others leaving, but I wouldn't ever be able to take you leaving me. I'm scared that if I say it out loud, that it becomes very, very real and that history will repeat itself."

"It won't."

"You don't know that, Daryl. Especially with Merle the way he is now?"

"What does that have to do with us?"

"He is pissing off dangerous people, Daryl. Everybody knows who you are. Everybody knows you are brothers. What if they do something to you to get to him?"

"Ain't never gonna happen, Bay. And it's a bullshit excuse for you holding back."

"I'm not holding back. I'm right in there with you, Daryl. You know I am. You're everything to me. Don't you see? Just thinking about you getting hurt makes me cry. Just please... don't listen to Merle. Just don't. He likes to rattle you. He loves screwing with us, you know that. He doesn't know what we have, but we do. We know without words. I know how you feel about me and you know how I feel about you. It's the same for both of us. I promise."

Daryl took a deep breath and finally nodded. "Hate than he can do this to me. I don't know why I keep listening."

"He's got some weird power over you. I've never seen anything like it. You're not a pushover, but where Merle is concerned,... he just gets in your head so fast... I know he is a master manipulator and I would never blame you for him getting to you, but at least listen to me when I say that he is wrong." She scooted closer and kissed him gently and with all the love and tenderness she was able to muster. "I can't live without you. Please be careful around him."

Daryl nodded wordlessly and kissed her some more. When he went to wrap his arms around her, he noticed that a certain someone was still sleeping on his lap and he smiled quietly. "Let's get this little fella into bed."

"Good idea." Bay agreed and got up. "Careful." she smiled and led the way to Julian's room.

For now their discussion about feelings, or their apparent lack thereof, was over. Daryl vowed to himself for the millionth time not to listen to his older brother when he told him that Bay would dump him as soon as she got enough money for college. It was easier said than done though. Like Bay had said, Merle had some kind of power over Daryl. The younger Dixon hated it with a passion, yet he was unable to stop it from happening over and over again. Daryl knew that Bay loved him, he didn't know how he knew, but he did, but her plans for the future often did leave him insecure and Merle was an expert at feeding and fueling those insecurities so much, that Daryl started to doubt Bay. It had to stop. Daryl knew he had to fight and distance himself from his brother or he would give Merle the power to destroy what he and Bay had, and that just wasn't an option.

* * *

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**Thank you for all the support and lovely messages and reviews, I'm reading them all, sorry for not responding yet. I will get back to it I promise. You guys are so amazing, I appreciate all of your reviews, kind words and input you have for me. I will properly thank you for it all again soon. Be patient with me. One more nerve wracking appointment on Thursday, where we will find out about the surgery. Pray for us, please. As you can see I am back to speed-writing. A couple of hours of daycare can do wonders. Let's hope it stays that way:) Love you all. **

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	20. Chapter 20

**Second to last chapter of this part of "Baryl's" story;-)**

* * *

**Chapter 20**

Five weeks after that night they babysat Julian, Bay took the obligatory pregnancy tests, like every time when they had been careless. She had taken the morning after pill, but she still liked to check and give them both some peace of mind about the whole thing. Ever since the last time they've had unprotected sex, they have been very careful and Daryl had made sure to always have condoms handy in his car, in every room of the apartment, in his pants and also in his wallet. He wouldn't mind starting a family with Bay one day, but that day was not in the near future. So now he was chewing his thumbnail while he was nervously pacing back and forth in front of the breakfast bar. On top of it were three pregnancy tests, placed on a paper towel. They always got three and also from three different brands, just to be completely safe and rule out false test results in case that one whole batch of one brand had been contaminated or whatever it was called when they spit out false results.

The timer dinged and Daryl was immediately on the tests, knowing the signs by heart by now and being able to interpret the results right away. His eyes quickly skimmed over all three of the tests and he breathed a sigh of relief. All negative. Not even the faintest line visible.

Bay snickered quietly when she heard his deep sigh. "Told you. Can we go now?"

"Yeah. I need a drink. This shit's gonna send me to an early grave." he lamented while he tossed the tests into the trash can.

"Nonsense. We've been very very good with using protection. No more slip ups and no more pills and tests." she smiled and kissed him gently after putting on her warm jacket. "It's gonna be all good from now on."

"You know,... we do it all the time and spend a ton of bucks on the rubbers... maybe you going on the pill would be better? Less expensive too?" he broached the topic carefully. "We'll totally split costs, like we do with the rubbers... And you said it yourself, it don't feel as good with the condoms... And a damn doctor could finally check ya out."

"This again?" Bay sighed in annoyance.

"Yeah, this again. Don't know why ya keep shutting me down on that. What if something's wrong?" Daryl's voice got louder when his temper suddenly flared up.

"Nothing is wrong!"

"You don't know that. But we know that something definitely ain't right. What's the big fucking deal here? Why don't ya go get checked out and be done with it?"

"Because!"

"Because?" Daryl laughed humorlessly. "Really, Bay?"

"Tell you what. Why don't you go to a doctor's office, get undressed and climb on that disgusting chair with your legs spread for some stranger to see, and have metal instruments shoved into your body? See how you like it, then we can talk about why I'm not doing it." Bay shouted back, before she just left him standing there and left the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

"Good Lord!" Daryl muttered and grabbed his own jacket from the back of the chair at the breakfast bar. He had to admit that what she had described really did sound pretty uncomfortable, but he was worried and wanted clarity about what's going on with her and whether it was harmless or not. It drove him up the tree that she wasn't taking care of it, and that she didn't feel the same need for getting clarification of what was happening inside her body he felt. He would never force her to do anything, but with this he wished he could just grab her and force her into a doctor's office and make him examine her. He wished he would have some kind of 'soft blackmail method' in store for her, but the only thing he could think of was withholding sex and that would hurt him even more than it would hurt her, so it was not an option. At least he was able to take comfort in the fact that she looked good and healthy, that nothing was hurting her and she was fit and agile. The picture of good health, so he tried to convince himself that everything was alright and that it was just all that stress and emotional trauma shit from losing her family in a very short amount of time.

Daryl left the apartment and locked up before he joined Bay, who was waiting in front of the building. They were going to attend a parking lot party and both wanted to drink so they left his truck at home and walked. He stuffed his keys into the pocket of his cargo pants, then he took her hand in his and intertwined their fingers. "Not gonna talk to me now?" he asked after walking for about 5 minutes and Bay being silent the whole time.

"Don't have much to say right now." she replied with a shrug.

"You're mad at me." he stated, making her shake her head.

"I'm not mad at you. I'm just annoyed. I'm gonna do it eventually, okay? Just don't push me."

"But if you're gonna do it anyway, why not now?" he was confused about why she would procrastinate if she was intent on getting the exam anyway. In this case sooner would be better than later.

"I just... I'm scared, okay?" she finally admitted it out loud and took a deep breath to will away the tears that were threatening to spill over. "It's a humiliating situation, I don't want anyone else seeing me, but you. I don't want anyone but you touching me there. Just the thought of it makes me sick, alright? I don't want some doctor poking and prodding around down there. Every fiber of my being is ramming their heels into the ground, refusing to take another step. That's what it feels like when I even only think about that stupid examination. I can't do it. I'm gonna feel violated. I don't want it. I just can't. Not right now. I'm not ready. I need to work up to it." she was crying by now and she felt stupid for it, but she couldn't help the fear she was feeling when she thought about the whole thing. She had an irrational fear of doctors. Always had ever since she had been sick as a little girl and had to stay in a hospital for three days without her parents, who only came to visit her once a day for an hour at night, because they had been working and her grandma also had to work and hadn't been able to stay with her a lot. The doctors had taken her blood several times and they had a hard time doing it, never really finding a vein and they had to try over and over again, until little Bay's arms had been bruised and especially the crook of both her arms had been swollen to the size of a plum and had also been of the same color. She had never once complained, just silently cried when she had been alone, but she had developed a lot of anxiety over doctor's visits ever since then. After her girlfriends had told her what went down at the gynecologist, she had vowed to herself to never go see one and let herself be helpless and bare in that horrible chair. It was unimaginable to her. She knew to other people her fear seemed silly, but she had the hardest time to overcome it. That had actually been the biggest reason why she hadn't donated her eggs. Too many doctor's and medical procedures involved. It hadn't been that she had been overly concerned about her reproductive system... It had been the damn doctors why she had said no.

"Hey... don't cry, sweetheart." he stopped walking and backed her up against the wall of another building and gently cradled her face in his hands, his thumbs wiping at her tears. "It's gonna be alright. If you're scared, I'll come with you. You don't have to do it alone."

"It's not gonna help any, Daryl. It's sweet of you, but it won't change anything... I promise, I'll do it, but I need time to prepare for it. So can we please stop talking about it until then? Please? It's not helping." she pleaded with him to finally drop the subject, and Daryl relented and nodded.

"Fine. Okay, I won't say nothing no more. It's your health... but that don't mean that I'm okay with you waiting another year or so." he was just sick and tired of the people around him fucking up their health and endangering themselves. First Bay and that job at the carpet mill and her eating habits, then Merle with his damn addiction, and now Bay again, with this. "Come on," he took her hand back in his and started walking again. "Can't get drunk fast enough." he muttered, and for once, Bay felt the same way.

* * *

"He lets you sit on his face?" Erin was downright shouting the words in surprise, while Bay downed her shot of Tequila.

"Sshhhhhhhh! Good God, Erin. Why don't ya shout a bit louder. Don't think my pastor heard you." Bay slurred her words as she put her shot glass down on the truck bed of the car they were using to play 'never have I ever...' Neither her, nor Erin, nor Tammy knew who the car belonged to, but it was a party so nobody cared. Bay was already smashed, so she most certainly didn't care about anything right now.

"Wow. I thought Sam and I were adventurous, but he's not letting me do that. You're a lucky bitch, Bay."

"Yup. I know. I got the best of the best. Liiiiittle overprotective... but still the best." she giggled drunkenly and leaned her head back and closed her eyes for a moment when the world around her started spinning for a moment. "Lucky, lucky, lucky." she muttered quietly while she waited for the dizziness to pass.

"It sucks." Tammy sighed. "Jason barely does it to me at all. And it's so unfair, because he's so good at it, but he doesn't like doing it. You wanna know what his excuse is?"

"What?" Erin asked as she filled up Bay's glass with a fresh shot of Tequila.

"Girls pee from there. Like, hello? And you don't pee from your dick? Men can be so stupid."

"Hope you pay him back by not blowing him off too often." Erin scoffed.

"I don't. I don't like doing it that much either, so... You do it often to Sam?"

"Not all the time, but I guess a lot. I don't mind it. It's fun getting him to squirm and be putty in my hands." Erin looked over at Bay and grinned. "What about you Bay? Have you done that to Daryl yet? And if so, did you like it?"

"I like everything when it's with Daryl." Bay murmured with her eyes still closed and an almost serene smile gracing her lips.

"Can't believe you had your first time and didn't tell me about it." Erin had been slightly offended, but then again, they hadn't really talked to each other since the day at Farmer's Lake, because Bay and Daryl had seriously used every free minute to get physical in the past four months. They had seen each other at Shoney's, but then Bay was working and there was no time for girl talk. Daryl hadn't gone to see his friends, either. He was taking his new job seriously and he often worked overtime to pick up some new skills after hours and because Bay was working until 9pm anyway and he didn't feel like waiting around too long for her to come home. Also he used the time between leaving work and Bay coming home to go and check up on Merle. Bay was right, he was getting himself into trouble and Daryl had given him a little bit of money on occasion to help him out. He was keeping that from Bay, though. He hated having secrets, but he didn't want her to chew him out for helping out his brother. The local "Meth Mafia" was no joke and of course Merle had to get involved in all that crap. He wouldn't admit it to Bay, but Daryl was slightly worried about what his brother was doing and the consequences it might bring. So yeah, he right now he liked hiding out with her in their apartment and get lost in each other. They had kind of alienated themselves from their friends, but neither one of them was really aware of it. To them it was just enjoying spending time with each other.

"Bay?" Erin slightly shook her friend, when Bay didn't comment on her previous statement. "Asleep already?"

"No." Bay murmured slowly. "Just enjoying my buzz. I just need to be drunk tonight..."

"Why?" Erin frowned. She sensed that something was off, but she wasn't able to put her finger on it. "Everything okay? You and Daryl aren't fighting, are you? Another break-up that would kill me..."

"What?" Bay asked without opening her eyes as she enjoyed the crisp, cool November breeze against her heated face. "Who broke up?"

"You know, Jessa and Patrick."

"WHAT? They broke up?" Bay's eyes snapped open at that. Erin looked at her incredulously.

"Seriously? Bay, that was like two months ago. You didn't know? Daryl didn't tell you? Why else would Pat be drinking himself into a stupor almost every night? He really loved her and he's devastated."

"I'm not sure that Daryl knows..." Bay frowned. "I don't think he's seen him in a while."

"Jesus Christ, Bay!" Erin was not amused and she wasn't hiding it. "That explains why he's so sad. He didn't just lose his girlfriend, he lost his best friend, too. Seriously, you two are the worst at keeping social contacts alive. Would it kill you to stop by and hang out for an hour on the weekend?"

"Hey, what are you getting on my case for? I'm not keeping Daryl from going anywhere. He makes his own decisions." Bay shot back and scooted off the truck bed. "God, what is it with everybody jumping down my throat these days? No wonder that we rather stay in and not go see anybody." she muttered annoyed.

"Where are you going?" Erin shouted after her.

"Away from you, Mother Superior." Bay fired back. She would feel sorry for flipping out a little a day later, but right now she was fed up with everybody. Yeah, she was acting childish, but she had never liked confrontation very much when she was on the receiving end and she was shitty at dealing with it, especially with the amount of alcohol in her system.

Daryl was not doing much better with the guys. They kept pestering him about why he never shows up anywhere anymore, they gave him a guilty conscience about not being there for Pat and they warned him about Merle. All the shit in the world Daryl didn't want to hear about. He regretted coming and in this moment he had no idea why he had thought it would be a good thing to attend this party. The worst of all? His friends were blaming Bay for "stealing him away" from everyone else. They liked her, they kept emphasizing that, but ever since they got together they hid themselves away and Daryl was forgetting all about his guys. They thought that Daryl might be pussy whipped. Daryl had told Pat about his tattoo shortly before he'd gone in to get it and of course Pat had told the guys. They thought it was a tad too much to go around wearing a girl's name on their chests forever. When Pete mentioned the tattoo, telling Daryl that he might as well wear a real ball and chain around his ankle, Daryl had enough.

"Fuck off. All of you." he snarled and lifted his middle finger in the air, flipping them all off as he backed away from the group. Time to find Bay and go home. He would check on Pat the next day though. That's something he really did feel guilty about. Pat had always been there for Daryl, girlfriend or not and now Daryl had practically abandoned him over night. He loved Pat like a brother, the rest of the bunch he could do without, though. They had been good guys to hang out with, but he didn't feel like it anymore. With them, it was always the same, hang out, drinking, smoking, getting high, doing the odd job here and there... Daryl was done with that. He was happy having a steady job, he was happy being with Bay and having created their own little family. She had changed him, but he had wanted her to. He wanted to be better for her... more reliable. Like it was now with both of them having steady incomes and their routines. Daryl had always thought this kind of life would be boring, but he had to realize that it was a kind of normalcy that he had secretly been craving all his life. He didn't need to get in trouble with the guys to have excitement in his life. Bay was his excitement, in more ways then one. So fuck everybody who didn't understand that.

"Hey." he nudged Erin when he reached the truck where he had last seen Bay. "Where's ma girl?"

"Took off in that direction." Erin pointed towards a building opposite the parking lot.

"The hell..." Daryl took off at a brisk pace towards the building. What on Earth would possess her to take off by herself in the dark and walk over to an abandoned building? _Crazy girl. One of these days she really got a spankin' comin'. _He walked around to the backside of the building and breathed a sigh of relief when he found her leaning against the wall and having a smoke. "Bay... whatchu doin, girl?"

"Hell of a party... Literally." she laughed humorlessly.

"Tell me about it." he plucked the cigarette from her fingers and took a long drag. "Girls give ya trouble, too?"

"Yup... Why? The guys chew you out?"

"Yeah... fuck all of 'em."

"Did you know about Patrick and Jessa?"

"Nah... didn't know. Feel shitty bout that. Gonna go see him tomorrow."

"That's a good idea." she grabbed his wrist and lifted his hand to her mouth to take another drag of her smoke. "It's bad that we didn't know about that. They say he's in real bad shape."

"I heard. Fuck,... really ain't done right by him."

"You will. Tomorrow. Say,... how did we manage to turn all our friends against us?"

"Dunno. Don't really care." he shrugged and stomped out the cigarette before he advanced on her. "We good?"

"Yeah." she smiled and rubbed her nose against his. "I know you just mean well."

"Exactly." he murmured as he nuzzled her. "That's all it is... just want you to be okay."

"I will be." she promised before she pulled him down to press his lips against hers.

"I hate tequila." he mumbled against her lips after tasting it on her, making her laugh.

"Sorry... want me to get a soda before we continue?"

"Hell no."

"Thought so." she grinned and let her hand travel down to his crotch, palming him through his cargoes. "You got condoms, right?"

"You bet yer sweet ass I do." he smiled. "Really? Here?"

"Mhm... want you. And I'm cold. I'm sure you can help with that."

"Ah, so that's what ya want me for? For playin' personal radiator again?" he grinned and started unbuttoning her jeans. He pulled the zipper down next and slipped his hand inside her panties, but not without difficulty. "Fuck, Bay. How can ya move in these? They're too tight to even move my hand right."

"Mmm, don't worry." Bay's eyes closed while she mumbled her words a little sluggishly when his fingers pressed against her clit. "Your hand is right where it's needed."

"Is it now?" Daryl grinned teasingly. "What's it called?"

"I'm not gonna say." Bay giggled, even in her alcohol induced haze a little blush crept into her cheeks.

"Come on, baby girl. Tell me... where do ya need my hand?"

"Stop it, Daryl. I'm not gonna say it. You can't make me!" she laughed and swatted at him. For all the things they've done up until now, she couldn't bring herself to talk dirty to him, but Daryl loved trying to get her to do it, because seeing her embarrassed and blushing was the cutest thing ever to him.

Daryl leaned in and trailed his tongue along the side of her neck until he scraped her earlobe with his teeth. "I bet I could make ya... but I don't feel like waitin' right now. Turn around." he breathed into her ear, making her shudder with lust. He removed his hand from inside her pants, and when Bay had turned around, he tugged her tight pants down to her knees. He pulled a condom out of his pocket, opening the wrapper with his teeth, before he hurriedly freed his erection from its confines. It took a couple of tries to get the condom on his dick, because the alcohol was influencing his coordination a little, but finally he was done and he positioned himself behind her. Daryl pulled at her hips, making her arch her back so he could get a better angle before he slowly pushed in.

He pulled out a little and pushed in again, deeper and deeper with every stroke until his pelvis was pressed snugly against her round ass. He let her adjust for a moment and used to short pause to push his hands underneath her jacket and sweater, expecting to find her bra-covered breasts, but all he found was naked skin. "Goddamn! Ya ain't been wearing a bra all night?" he groaned and relished in the sensation of feeling her nipples harden against his palm.

"You know I hate those things." Bay gasped. Sometimes she wished she had more cleavage, but most of the time she was glad to have little enough to get away without wearing a bra. She literally only wore them to work. In her personal free time she preferred to go without. "For the love of God, move!" her moaned beg made him chuckle, but he gladly obliged. He stroked his dick inside of her at a steady rhythm, pulling and pinching her nipples while he did it, making her even wetter than she had been before.

"My naughty little sweetheart... making me fuck you out in the street. 'nother thing to confess to on Sunday, huh?" Daryl grunted out between clenched teeth. The cold late November chill around them just emphasized how hot her pussy was, the sensation enveloping Daryl from head to toe and making him run even hotter. He was starting to sweat underneath his warm clothing.

"Worth it." Bay breathed and pushed her hands and her cheek against the cool wall of the building and braced herself for Daryl's onslaught as his thrusts gained speed and intensity. He slid one of his hands out from under her sweater and down between her legs, letting three fingers press down right on the top of her slit and move them in hard, jerky, circular motions to stimulate her clit and make her cum with him.

"Cum for me, baby girl. I want everyone around ta hear how good I can make ya feel. Show everyone how dirty ya really are for having me fuck ya out here in the open. Come on... come on..." With a couple more rubs of his finger and a hard tug on her nipple, Bay finally went flying over the edge, her constricting warm, wet walls helping Daryl milk his orgasm from him. "That's a good girl." he breathed shortly before he pulled out and removed the condom from his cock, and tossing it aside. They both got properly redressed, before Bay turned around with a little giggle and kissed him happily.

"You know what, Daryl? Friends, schmiends... Even if we are kind of out of friends right now, the good thing is that we'll always have each other."

Daryl stilled and looked at her for a moment. Somehow her cute and still slightly drunk little statement was tugging at his heartstrings. He didn't know why, but it did.

"I love you."

The words came out of his mouth without him even being really aware of it. Bay stiffened and looked like a deer caught in headlights. "I... um... " she was at a loss. She felt the same way, no doubt about it, but hearing him say it out loud was overwhelming and made her speechless. She downright attacked him, knocking him back two steps with the force of her kiss as she pressed her lips against his. She tried to put everything she had into that one kiss, but she knew it wouldn't be enough. He already thought she wasn't into this just as much as he was. "I love you, too." she muttered almost inaudibly, but for Daryl it was loud enough to hear it and make him smile. He was about to lean in and kiss her again, when she avoided his lips and looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "Please don't hurt me." she asked in a heartfelt plea.

"Never." he promised quietly before he finally pressed his lips against hers again, kissing her hard, but full of love. He only pulled away when he felt her shiver from the cold. That's when he noticed that her nose was ice-cold, too. "Let's go home." he grinned and kissed the tip of her nose, then he intertwined their hands and guided her home in the cold dark night.

If he hadn't been distracted, he might have noticed the eyes they had on them on their way home. He had a sixth sense for doom, after all, but he was so focused on Bay, that he missed that they were being followed.

Once Daryl and Bay had entered their building, the man in the black Mercedes Benz smirked and opened the glove compartment to get out his big cell phone.

"Boss? It's Larson."

_***You find him?***_

"Yep, found Daryl. Got an address, too."

_***Good. Now go and find me Merle Dixon and bring him in. Time to teach him a lesson.***_

"Will do, Sir."

* * *

**Thank you for reading!  
**

**Scared yet? Ha! I guess you can imagine that the next (and last 'young') chapter will be full of drama. **

**For those of you who do not follow me on tumblr, a quick info about the next updates: As it turns out my son will need surgery. It is scheduled for October 14th. I will definitely try to get the next chapter out before that and start writing the first ZA-chapter. Surgery is minor and usually the kids are back to their usual selves a couple hours later or the next day, however, it was said that some kids get nightmares for up to a couple of weeks after having been in the OR with all the strangers and without their parents, etc. So if that happens, I obviously won't sleep much and therefore my brain will be too tired and mushy to write and I will take a break. If he does fine post-op, there shouldn't be much of a delay until the first ZA-chapter. Especially not with the show already being back on air and the promise of emotional Daryl, lol. I seriously can't wait. **

**Thank you so much for all your love and support! You guys have helped me through some tough days. Thank you for that.**

**Dear Snowbird: So happy to see you back. I'm glad that you had a great vacation! Thank you for the kind words. I think you will get answers to your questions in the near future:) Much love to you!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

"Hm, look at that..." Patrick chuckled humorlessly when Daryl entered his apartment the next day. "Good to see you're still among the living. Was about to file a missing persons report."

"Yeah... 'm sorry 'bout that..." Daryl trailed off as he looked around. The place was a mess. Empty bottles of booze, pizza boxes and boxes from other take-out places were littering the floor and part of the sofa. "Shit man..."

"That's right... shit man... Take a good look around, D! This is what it looks like when the woman you love breaks your heart." Patrick muttered before he lifted his beer bottle back to his lips and focused back on the TV.

"I brought ya something... Bay cooked some pot roast for lunch..." he showed Pat the tupperware container that contained some slices of meat, roasted potatoes and carrots and gravy. "It's good..." he murmured as he put it on the small coffee table, which was also full of trash. He felt kind of silly to bring his best friend food in a tupperware container, but Bay had insisted.

Patrick started laughing quietly. "Bay made a pot roast for lunch? On a Sunday? Let me guess, she went to church, came home and marched right into the kitchen in her pretty dress. Putting on an apron and preparing a Sunday feast? What are you guys, fresh out of Pleasantville or something? She make ya dress up for meals? Sit down in a monkey suit and say a little prayer?"

"I know you're pissed, and you're right to be, but keep Bay outta this. She ain't done nothing wrong. This is on me."

"Yeah, yeah... so whaddaya want now?"

"I'm sorry. For bein' a shitty friend. I didn't know 'bout you and yer girl... If I had known... What happened?"

"She decided I took up too much of her time and attention and that I wasn't supportive enough. She needed to focus on her family now... I was there for her. You know I was. I wanted to help her. Fuck man, I offered to help them move into their new place, get them settled in. Do anything to help out and then she tells me I wasn't supportive enough? The fuck is up with that?" Patrick let out an angry snort. He was still dumbfounded over the whole thing.

"I ain't no expert, but maybe she's just scared?" Daryl offered after a moment of silence. He was comparing Jessa to Bay a little. Bay was afraid of love and getting hurt. Now after her parents' ugly divorce, he could imagine Jessa might feel the same way and ended things before Patrick would hurt her and not the other way around. "She sees her momma fallin' apart 'cause of this and she wants to keep it from happening to herself? Maybe y'all are gonna work it out after a while..."

"Whose fucking side are you on, man?" Patrick looked at him incredulously. "Fuck, dude... didn't ask for your opinion anyway. What? You been taking shrink lessons from your girl? Just leave me alone. Don't need your pity. Ya didn't care 'bout whether I lived or died for almost what? Over six months now? Ever since you guys got together... Ya know, I was real happy for you guys, but that was before y'all abandoned all of us. You think you're better than us with your nice jobs and your pot roasts and shit?"

Daryl sighed and gave up. Pat was halfway drunk and just like Daryl, he wasn't the nicest person when he was intoxicated. He got up and walked towards the door. "Just eat something, alright? I'll be back soon."

"Whatever..." Patrick waved him off and slid down deeper in his recliner. Daryl took one last look at him, feeling shitty for having neglected his friend for so long and vowing to himself to keep trying to make it up to him, before he left.

* * *

**4 weeks later**

Merle felt his head throbbing something awful when he slowly came to. He tried to blink open heavy eyelids, while he also tried to roll over in bed, trying to hide himself from what he assumed to be the blaring Georgia sunlight. He froze when he found himself unable to move. His bleary eyes snapped open at that and he looked around in confusion. _The fuck? This ain't mah room..._

"Ah, welcome Mr. Dixon. Glad you finally decided to join us in the world of the conscious." the cheery voice gave him chills and it made the little hairs on his arms stand up. Merle finally regained full consciousness and he realized that he really wasn't in that little motel room he had checked into two days ago. He was in what appeared to be an old and dingy warehouse and for the first time since childhood fear gripped at him, when he noticed which warehouse exactly he was currently in... and tied to a fucking chair at that.

"Gonzalez..." Merle snarled, finally recognizing the boss of the local Meth Mafia. He knew he was in deep shit.

"We've been looking for you for a long time, Merle. You are very good at hiding yourself." the man in the ridiculous white suit with shoulder pads, and gold chains said conversationally. It was the truth, they had been looking for Merle for a month, trying to track him down over and over again unsuccessfully. They had observed Daryl as well, seeing if he would lead them to his brother, but the guy didn't seem to make an effort to look for Merle at all. He went to work, then home and back to work in the morning. Still, they had come very close to bringing him in and ask him some questions, but a lucky break had made them find Merle after all. "You almost got away, Merle... If it wouldn't have been for that pesky addiction of yours that made you pop back up on the radar."

"What can I say? You Mexicans make some good shit..." Merle grinned, but on the inside he felt ice cold panic grab him. He was a dead man, he was sure of it. He would finally pay for his own stupidity. All he could do was hope that it would be relatively quick.

"Apparently..." Gonzalez agreed, his expression turning hard. "After all, you've been stealing from us for a while... Our buyers haven't been receiving their full orders for months. Which brings me to why we are here today... You owe about $15,000 in product, Mr. Dixon. And from one business man to another, you know that I have to insist on you paying us back for what you took from us.

"Ha! Well ya can forget about that!" Merle actually had to laugh at that. "Ain't no way I'm comin' up with that money!"

"Oh trust me, you will come up with that money. Allow me to provide some motivation." Gonzalez grinned evilly and snapped his fingers once. A man came walking up from behind Merle and stood to his right side. Merle eyed him suspiciously, trying to gauge what was going to happen and fully expecting him to pull a gun and shoot him in the kneecap or something like that. The man wasn't holding a gun though... Upon a nod from Gonzalez, the man produced a pair of pruning shears from his back pocket. Merle's heart started beating a lot faster and his breathing picked up as he started squirming in his chair.

"Hey now... whatchu want with those? Get away from me you fucking bastard. Oh no you don't..." he bellowed as the guy bend down and brought the shears closer. Merle's wrists were tied to the arms of the chair, immobilizing him and making him unable to pull away from what was coming. His words fell on deaf ears and the guy proceeded to take hold of Merle's pinky finger, spreading it away from the other fingers and bringing the shears to the base of that finger. "Shit man, I'll get you yer money, alright, I'll get you your fucking money, just let me go an- AHHHHHHH FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!" Merle screamed in agony when the blades of the shears cut through skin, flesh and bones, brutally removing his pinky finger from his hand.

Gonzalez came to stand right in front of him and crouched down to look Merle right in the face, making sure the man would hear every word over his harsh, pained breathing. "Consider this your warning, Merle. You have 48 hours to get me my money. If you try anything funny, the next time we see each other, your brother will be in the chair next to you, and I will take more than just a useless finger from him. If you are still unwilling to repay us after that, his pretty little girlfriend is next. Bayanne was her name, right? Pretty name, beautiful girl... It would be such a shame to mess up that face of hers..."

"You don't touch 'em!" Merle's pain turned to anger. Nobody threatened to hurt his little brother. "I'll get you yer damn money, but you don't touch 'em."

"That's entirely up to you, Merle. I'll see you back here in 48 hours. No funny shit, Mr. Dixon, or you and your lovely family will pay." Gonzalez gave him one more eerily happy grin, before he signaled for his henchmen to cut Merle loose and let him leave. "48 hours!" he shouted after Merle who was scrambling to get out of there, holding his right hand elevated in an attempt not to bleed out. He ran straight back to his apartment which he had left a couple of weeks ago to take care of his wounds and to come up with a plan. Fortunately for him, it didn't take long for him to know how he would get out of this trouble.

* * *

"I think I'll cancel that doctor's appointment this afternoon." Bay murmured with a tired voice as she and Daryl got ready for work in the morning. She had finally made an appointment with a gynecologist to get checked out and to get some birth control pills, because the condoms really turned out to be expensive if you used up to three a day. But now she wasn't feeling well and didn't want to add to that by having to endure that stupid exam on her privates.

"No you don't. It's important, Bay. I told you I can come with you..."

"No, I don't want that. Believe it or not, but you would make me even more nervous. And I don't want you to have to get off work early. Bad enough that I had to give up a shift at Shoney's today so I can go. Now I'm thinking I should just skip the appointment and lay down, though."

"Why? What's wrong?" Daryl asked concerned when he saw her face scrunch up in pain.

"I have a tummy ache. I think those fish tacos weren't a good idea." she lamented while she rubbed her belly.

"I had those, too and I feel fine." Daryl frowned. "They have other doctors in that building, right? Just go get that checked out after your appointment with the lady doc."

"Yeah,... maybe." Two doctors in one day? That was hell in Bay's opinion. Maybe she would just get some peptobismol after the 'lady doc'.

"Come on, get your coat and I'll drive you to work. Don't need you walking there if ya don't feel good." he smiled gently and kissed her temple while he guided her in the direction of the closet.

"Thanks." she went over there and got out her black coat and a black beanie and put them on. Daryl watched her with a smile and when she was done, he pulled her closer and gave her a big gentle kiss on the lips.

"Love ya." he smiled quietly while he nuzzled her nose with his.

"Love you, too." she returned his smile and leaned up to get another kiss before they left the apartment hand in hand.

Daryl drove her to the store and kissed her several times while he told her to call him at work if she still didn't feel better in the afternoon and needed a ride home. Bay promised to do so and kissed him one last time before she got out of the truck and unlocked the store, while Daryl took off to his own place of work.

* * *

Picking the lock had been kid's play to Merle. He had been breaking and entering for years, there was nary a lock, that he wasn't able to get open. He stepped into the apartment and quickly shut the door behind him, before any of the neighbors would step out into the hall. He pocketed his instruments and let his gaze sweep around the place.

"Now... if I were a bag of money... where would I hide?" he mused out loud before he strode into the little kitchen, deciding to start looking in every cabinet. Yeah, Merle had figured out quickly how to get out of this particular pickle he had found himself in. Once he had tended to his wound, he had remembered how Daryl had told him about Bay's plans for college and about how she didn't trust no bank and kept the money hidden in her apartment. According to Daryl's info, Bay must have been saving up for about one and a half years now. With having two jobs and not spending much, she had to have 15,000 dollars and more. Enough to pay off Gonzalez and then get the hell out of this town and start over somewhere else with his little brother. Merle didn't trust the Mexicans to leave him or Daryl alone after they had gotten their money, so he had decided to grab his brother and get out of Dalton right after he had paid his dues. Was it right to take Bay's hard-earned money and make her start over? No, it wasn't, but hey, he was saving her ass with this, too, so the least she could do is contribute. She wanted Daryl safe and well off, too, right? She was young, she could wait another two years until college. He didn't feel too bad for leaving her with nothing. A little maybe, but to him it was more important to save his own skin... and Daryl's, of course.

Merle turned the place upside down, throwing everything to the floor, leaving the cabinet doors open, stepping on and breaking things, not caring that he was leaving a mess. He was in a hurry, there was still lots to be done today. He checked every nook and cranny, but came up empty. He sat down on the edge of the sofa bed and lit a cigarette, while he pondered where else to look. It had to be inside the apartment, he just knew it.

While he sat there and smoked he hung his head and looked at the floor. Suddenly he noticed something. An indentation in the old carpet. He squinted at it for a moment, then he got up and grabbed the edge of the bed and pulled it until one of the bed's legs fit right into that indentation. The bed had been shifted recently. Merle pushed on the bed again, moving the leg out of the indentation and his ears picked up a small noise coming from the wall. A slow grin spread out on his face while he walked up to the wall and crouched down, looking into the small gap that was now between the back of the sofa and the wall. "And Bingo was his name... ha,... hello bag of money. I been looking for ya." Merle put the duffel bag on the bed and opened the zipper, eager to count his bounty. "Ha! Ha ha... ha... oh man..." he laughed happily as he counted roughly 30,000 dollars. And he'd only have to pay the Mexicans half of that. The other half would be great starting money for him and Daryl.

Daryl... that reminded him of his real problem. How was he going to get his brother to come with him and leave his girl behind? Maybe he should just clobber him over the head and drag him to the truck? Nah, he'd just have to talk some sense into his little brother. Make sure he understands that his girl would be in danger with him around. She was better off without any Dixons in her life. He'd have to make Daryl see that.

Merle got up and zipped up the duffel bag and parked it by the door .Next he grabbed a plastic bag out of the mess he had made all around the apartment and went to the closet and got out all of Daryl's stuff he could find and threw it into the bag in his hand. He took everything of Daryl's he was able to see and recognize and stuffed the bag to capacity. When he was done he walked over to the door and took another look around. "Sorry Miss Bayanne,... it's better for all of us this way." he muttered, before he left the apartment with both bags, pulling the door shut behind him, and took off towards the warehouse where he had lost his finger the previous night. Time to pay up and then leave without a trace.

* * *

Daryl knew bad things were going to happen when his boss told him that his brother was there to see him right before lunch, he just didn't anticipate **how** bad things were going to be from now on. It didn't take long for Daryl to take notice of Merle's agitated state and the blood soaked bandage around his hand.

"Shit... Merle! The fuck happened to you? Where the hell were you the past month?"

"Had to hide out from the Mexicans. They found me and they did this! Took my finger clean off." Merle lifted his bandaged hand before he took a step closer to his little brother. "Listen to me. We gotta leave! Now!"

"I'm working, Merle! And the fuck do I have to do with your fucking problems?" Daryl's temper flared up and he had trouble keeping his voice down. It's been a while since he'd had to deal with Merle's shit and he would have loved to do without it for the rest of his life.

"You ain't listening to me. The damn Mexicans are after me... after us. We gotta skip town, baby bro. Lay low. I ain't kiddin'. Shit, they did this to me without hesitation, whatchu think they're gonna do when I don't pay up, man?"

"You're outta your damn mind, Merle. I ain't going nowhere!"

"Don't you get it? They threatened to do the same to you, Daryl!"

Daryl ran his hands through his hair and started pacing in agitation. "Fuck! Why ya always gotta do this? Ya always gotta get us in trouble! You and your fucking addiction!"

"Yeah, yeah I know, it ruins my life. Now come on. Those guys aren't joking around! We gotta go now and we don't tell no one." Merle implored him, but Daryl was already shaking his head.

"They aren't gonna get me!"

"Are ya kiddin'? I have years more experience at hiding out and dealing with this shit and they got me! They took my damn finger off, Daryl! They are gonna do even worse to you and once they find out about your sweet little girlfriend, well... imagine what they will do to her! And they'll make us both watch while they do it. Now stop yapping and fucking come with me! How often do I have to say this, I ain't fucking kidding!" Merle grabbed the material of Daryl's shirt in his good fist and dragged him towards the exit. Daryl stumbled behind him, his mind racing and fear running through his veins at the thought of something happening to Bay.

"No one's touching Bay. If they do that, I'll kill them all." Daryl mumbled, making Merle laugh.

"You won't do nothing, cause you'll be fucking tied to a chair with missing limbs, baby bro."

"We gotta get her. She's at the store!" Daryl looked at Merle frantically. "I gotta call ahead, tell her to lock up and wait for us."

"Nah, she ain't comin'." Merle stated decisively while he waited for Daryl to unlock the truck.

"What?" Daryl froze in his tracks and stared at Merle with wide eyes. "If I'm coming, then she's coming. I ain't going nowhere without her. I ain't leaving her behind. What if those guys find her?"

"They don't know 'bout her! Yet!" Merle lied through his teeth, trying everything to get Daryl to come with him and leave his girlfriend in Dalton. "She's safer without you, Daryl."

"No!" Daryl shook his head vehemently as panic flooded him. "NO!" he shouted at Merle, who proceeded to grab Daryl's shirt again and slam him against the side of the truck bed.

"Yes! Listen, I know this sucks for ya, and I'm sorry, I really am, but if that girl means anythin' to you... anythin' at all, then ya keep her safe. And she ain't safe with us around. She just ain't Daryl. Don't you get that? Yeah, it'll hurt both of ya, but you gotta do the right thing. You wanna save her life, you gotta come with me."

"She can come with us. I can keep her safe when she's with us!" Daryl's eyes filled with tears, his voice pleading with Merle, but his older brother was shaking his head resolutely.

"She's got plans. You know she does. She's gonna go off to college soon, be some damn doctor. We both know there ain't no place for you in those plans. You know it, you know she's gonna dump your ass as soon as she's on her way to become someone. Don't even deny it, baby brother or I'll kick yer teeth in for lying to me." Merle shoved him harder against the truck to prove his point and kept imploring him. "Ya wanna do right by her, you do this now. You leave her to live her life safely and happily ever fucking after, and come with me. Maybe in a couple of months you can come back, see if she still wants ya once things settle down, but now we gotta go and get the hell outta dodge."

Daryl was shaking and he was barely able to keep the tears from falling. Merle would be lying if he said that it didn't affect him to see his brother hurting, but he was convinced that this was the best course of action for them all. "Let me at least say goodbye. Tell her what's going on."

"We can't. The less she knows the better."

"She's gonna hate me."

"Good. It means she'll at least be alive. Now get in the damn truck Daryl, before those assholes find us. Gimme the keys." Merle held out his hand after letting Daryl go and finally he saw Daryl's shoulders slump and his head bow down. Daryl had admitted defeat and was submitting to his older brother once more. _Good boy._ Merle thought with a smug grin as Daryl slapped the keys to the truck into his hand. He would drive them out of town himself, not trusting Daryl not to go by the store and warn Bayanne.

Daryl climbed into the truck wordlessly and fell into some kind of shock. He was staring at the floorboard, tears clouding his vision, as his world crashed down all around him. Merle kept talking, but Daryl was unresponsive. He only saw Bay. The girl he loved and who would now hate him forever, but if that was the price he had to pay to keep her safe, then so be it. If it only wouldn't hurt so much.

* * *

He was gone.

After three days Bay had absolute certainty that Daryl was gone and wouldn't return. She had still had hope even after she had found all of his stuff gone from her apartment. She had tracked down every one of his friends, asking if they knew where he was, but everyone was just as surprised as she had been when she had come home to the mess in her apartment. Nobody knew where he was. Everyone was apologetic, like that would help any.

He had left her. It had all been a game. Just a ploy to steal her money. He had wormed his way into her heart, playing her like a fiddle until she had given him everything, absolutely everything. Her home, her care, her love, her virginity... herself. She had dared to let him into her heart, she had dared to tell him that she loved him and now, just a month later, he was gone. With her money. She had nothing left. He had taken everything from her. She hadn't been kidding when she had told him she wouldn't be able to live with him. She was no longer functioning. Everything hurt and she was in hell. She wasn't angry at him. Not yet. Right now she was angry at herself for having been so foolish. But she had believed him. He was an amazing actor. His performance had been incredibly and absolutely believable straight up until he had dropped her off at work this morning. But why now? Why was he leaving now? Why not right at the beginning? As soon as he had access to her apartment? Was stealing her money not enough? Did he have to strip her bare of everything? Did he take sadistic pleasure in making her fall in love with him and then leave her completely and utterly devastated?

He really had taken everything. With her money gone, he had also taken her dreams and the ability to take care of herself. It had taken her one and a half years to raise close to 30,000 dollars. One and a half years of time lost, of hard work lost. There was no way that she had the strength to start over again, and not under these circumstances... And without him by her side to help her... Three days and she felt like she was dying without him. Even though he had betrayed her, she missed him. She missed his face, his beautiful blue eyes, that gorgeous smile, those unbelievably soft lips, his strong hands... Laying in this bed they had shared was hell. All those memories flooded her, making her hurt even more. It was unbearable. She had no idea how to get through this. The deaths of her family, she had been able to work through, but this? No. This was an entirely different thing. Daryl had planned this. She had begged him not to hurt her and he hadn't listened. He had broken his promise. He had chosen to do this to her and she had, albeit unknowingly, let him do this to her. Enough was enough. There was only so much a young woman was able to take. Daryl Dixon had broken her. She was done.

* * *

**3 months later**

He had been the biggest idiot on God's green Earth. Once again he had let his brother dictate his life, had let Merle talk him into leaving his life behind, leaving his love behind. It had been the biggest mistake of his young life. Bay had begged him not to listen to Merle, and he had promised not to, but yet he had. He had failed Bay big time. She would hate him with all she had, and rightfully so, but it wouldn't stop Daryl from begging and groveling at her feet for weeks or even months, asking her for her forgiveness. He would explain the whole thing, that he'd only had her safety in mind and that Merle had made it sound like she would be in grave danger if he would stay living with her. Daryl had believed him. The guy was missing a finger after all, but pretty soon Merle started living it up again, not caring where Daryl ended up while he went on his binges.

Now Merle was in jail. They had busted him and his new group of tweaker friends and with his track record, he had been in the big house faster than he could blink. Free of Merle's influence Daryl had grabbed his stuff and had decided to go see Bay. He was determined to be with her, no matter how long it would take for her to forgive him. The shit with the Mexicans should have died down by now, and even if there would be any sign of danger, he would grab Bay and they would go away together. She could waitress and manage a shop and go to college in other towns, she wasn't stuck in Dalton. They would be able to make it work, he was sure of it. They loved each other, surely a little bit of that still had to be inside of her for him to bring back out and kill the hate that she surely felt for him right now.

He was giddy and nervous when he turned his truck onto her street... **their** street, and parked in front of their building. He couldn't wait to see her, even if she would yell at him, it would be the best thing to happen to him in months. He still had the key, so he let himself into the building and lept up the stairs. It was almost ten at night, she should be home from her shift at the restaurant by now. Daryl walked up to the door and took a long and deep breath before he knocked on the door. He felt like his heart had stopped beating and he held his breath when he heard footsteps nearing the door from the inside. He chewed his bottom lip nervously and looked up from underneath his too long bangs when the door finally opened, anxious and excited to see the look on her face... except that it wasn't Bay who was opening the door. It was a guy, about Daryl's age, he guessed.

"Who the fuck are you?" Daryl scowled, feeling jealousy flush through his system.

"You knocked on my door, so who the fuck are you?" The guy asked Daryl with a frown.

"Where's Bay?"

"Bay what?" The guy was utterly confused and downright alarmed when Daryl tried to push past him.

"BAY? BAY?" he yelled into the apartment, trying to get in, but the other guy shoved him back out.

"Hey, what the fuck dude? Ain't no Bay living here, man!"

Daryl realized that the guy was right, after he had caught a glimpse of the interior. It wasn't Bay's stuff. She didn't live here anymore. The realization made Daryl back off, a confused expression on his face. "Sorry... I thought... sorry..." Daryl stammered before he quickly left the building before anyone would call the cops on him. _Fuck... How am I gonna find her now?_ He had an idea of what to try next, but it wouldn't be very pleasant at all. He would drive down to the Wal-Mart parking lot and asked his former friends in case anyone was around. The next option would be to go to Pat's and ask him. And beg him for forgiveness as well. _Fucking Merle. Got me into this mess. Got a lot of apologizin' to do because of him. Always ruins everything. Hope he never get out..._

Daryl was dreading seeing his former friends. He wasn't in the mood to explain anything to him, he just wanted to find Bay and explain everything to her, but in order to do that, it looked like he would have to go through them. His stomach cramped when he saw them. Nothing had changed there, they still hung out in the usual spot. The group, of course, immediately recognized the blue truck that was pulling into the parking lot and it sure had a lot of jaws dropping.

"Daryl?" Patrick was stunned as he watched the truck approach. "You gotta be kidding me..."

Daryl stopped the car a couple of feet away from the group. He wasn't ready to face all of them. He hoped that he would somehow get Pat to come over and talk to him alone. Thankfully for Daryl, Pat had the same idea and came walking towards him, motioning for the others to stay put, but their curious eyes stayed trained on the two men.

"Hey..." Daryl mumbled shyly as he got out of the truck.

"Hey? That's all ya got to say?" Patrick scoffed quietly. He didn't know what had happened, but he was deeply disappointed in Daryl for what he did. "Left without a trace, stayed gone for three months and now ya got the nerve to show up here and say hey? The fuck, dude? Where were you? Why the hell did ya leave?"

"I can explain. I will, I promise, but I gotta find Bay first. Gotta talk to her and explain to her what happened. She ain't livin' at her apartment anymore. She move? Ya know where she's at? Does Erin know?" The questions shot out of Daryl in quick succession and he got a weird feeling when he noticed Pat's expression change. "What?"

"She's gone, D..." Patrick had paled and carefully watched Daryl's reaction.

Daryl's brows knit in confusion. "Gone? She leave town, too?" If that was the case he was fucked. He wouldn't have the first clue where to start looking, unless she had told anyone where she might have gone.

"No." Patrick replied and cleared his throat awkwardly. "She's dead, D. She died. About two months ago."

Daryl's back hit the truck a couple of seconds later. His knees had given out when the words had sunken in. "No..." he breathed almost inaudibly. "She can't... no... that ain't possible." Suddenly Merle's words came back to him. The Mexicans... "She get killed?" Daryl croaked out when tears stung his eyes.

"No. She ended it herself." Patrick explained, his own voice wavering. "They found her things on Murray Bridge... Blood, too... She jumped, Daryl."

"_Love scares me, because everyone I ever loved has left me Daryl. I'm scared of you leaving, too. It would destroy me. I was able to take the others leaving, but I wouldn't ever be able to take you leaving me. I'm scared that if I say it out loud, that it becomes very, very real and that history will repeat itself"_ Daryl heard Bay's words inside his head clear as day. He had promised her that he would never leave her. He had broken his promise. **He **had destroyed her. She had taken her own life, because he had left and she hadn't been able to go on without him.

"Daryl?" Patrick tried to get his attention. He managed to snap Daryl out of it, but he wouldn't get any answers to his questions. "What happened? What in the world made ya leave her, bro?"

Daryl didn't reply. He had to get out of there. He needed to be alone. Without another word he climbed back into his truck and started the engine and backed out of the parking lot.

"Daryl! Wait! Where are you going?" Pat shouted after him, but he knew it was of no use. His heart ached for Daryl, but at the same time he didn't get too invested. Seemed like Daryl was on the go once again and he was sure that now, when his main reason to stick around was dead, he would leave and probably never show his face around these parts of the country again.

It had hurt to lose his best friend and he had been sad about Bay dying as well, but he'd had enough time to make peace with it. He'd lost Daryl a long time ago, even before he'd skipped town. No use in dwelling on things that had happened in the past. It would be the best thing for Daryl to leave and not come back. Nobody liked him much anymore after abandoning them and ultimately even abandoning Bay and destroying her life. They had moved on.

* * *

Daryl raced out of town, not caring about breaking the speed limit. He just needed to get out of there. Without realizing that he had gone there, Daryl left the road and stopped on a field outside of town. It was the meadow where they had shared their very first kiss after her first shooting practice.

That's where he crumbled. He walked away from the truck a couple of feet before the tears finally spilled out of his eyes, the first sob following a split-second after. Daryl fell to his knees and broke down. Crying and screaming out his grief and desperation, pleading with God to have Patrick be wrong and to let her magically appear in front of him. Mixed in with his sorrow was anger. Anger at her for following in her parents' footsteps and taking her damn life, anger at her not having waited for him, as unreasonable as it was for him to be angry at that, he still felt it.

"You stupid girl... I left so you would be safe. I hurt us both to keep ya safe. Bay... Baaaaay... " he whined out her name as sobs wracked his shoulders and he felt like his heart was disintegrating. He clutched at his chest, the tattoo of her name felt like it was burning painfully. It was even worse than he had felt when he had left town with Merle. At least then he'd had hope to maybe see her again one day. Now that hope was dead, just like she was.

Daryl let his whole body drop to the ground, not caring about living or dying in that moment. He didn't know how long he laid there in the dark, crying over the loss of the love of his life, but it must have been hours. He was stiff and freezing when the sun came up and he finally got up to get back in his truck. He pulled the truck back on the road and went back to Monroe, where his brother was incarcerated. There was nothing left for him in Dalton. At least in Monroe he had family left, as shitty as that family might be. The tears however didn't stop falling.

He didn't know it then, but Daryl would mourn and also curse Bay for years to come, and in those years he would never be the same man he'd once been. There was nothing positive in his life anymore, only shame and anger.

* * *

**Don't freak out too much;-) I said they'd be together in the ZA and I wasn't lying. Have faith.**

**Thank you for reading and all your support. Feel free to tell me what you think.**

**Lots of thanks and love to the reviewers:**

**DarylDixon'sLover**

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**cemmia**

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**UndeadMama**

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**crossingRUBYcon**


	22. Chapter 22

**AN: I already explained this on tumblr a couple of times, but since not all of you are following me, I will explain again how I want to do this. So now, we are in the ZA. I will roughly follow the shows storyline, but I wanna try to do my own thing. Some chapters will have more of the show than others, but dialogue will be different for the most part. (Again, some dialogue will be from the show.) I don't have time to go back and watch every season, nor do I want to, so events probably won't be in the same chronological order, some won't happen at all. I just wanna try to play around with things and have fun, so it doesn't get too repetitive. I will keep the focus on Bay and Daryl, i.e. I probably won't write too much scenes without either one of them in it. For example Rick and Lori's problems, I won't spend too much time detailing it about how they have it out, but write how Daryl and Bay hear about it and perceive it. That's the best explanation I can give you guys. Like I said on tumblr, I haven't written ZA in a long time and it might take a couple of chapters until I'm fully in there and comfortable again. Please bear with me;-) Now have fun (I hope).**

**PS: Your questions will be answered, but not all at once and right away;-) Patience! xoxo**

* * *

**Chapter 22**

**11 years later**

Bayanne stood in the kitchen and rubbed down a pork roast with fresh herbs from the garden, when she heard heavy footsteps coming closer. After over ten years of living with the man, she knew the sound of his walk by heart. "Mother and child doing alright?" she asked, looking over her shoulder for a second and sending the man a smile.

"Yes. Mother Bessie and daughter Lily are doing just fine." the man gave a tired smile in return and got himself a glass from one of the cabinets before he filled it up with cold sweet tea from the fridge.

"Lily? Interesting choice for a calf." Bay laughed lightly as she wrapped some close-to-expiring puff pastry around the meat.

"Not my choice obviously. You know I haven't gotten any say in the matter for a very long time."

"I know, Hershel. There's no arguing with Beth. She's a stubborn one, that girl." Bay smiled affectionately to herself when she thought of the girl who had become a sister to her over the past eleven years. She had seen that girl grow from a 5-year old adorable pre-schooler into a beautiful young teenage girl.

"She is. Just like her mother." Hershel agreed with a little chuckle.

"But she's stubborn in a good way. She has a good head on her shoulders." Bay said and used a pastry brush to brush a whisked egg on the puff pastry before she put the roast in the oven.

"If only that would stop her from making stupid decisions." Hershel muttered, making Bay laugh and squeeze his shoulders gently in passing.

"She is not making stupid decisions, Hershel. Trust me, there are much worse teenage boys out there than Jimmy Henderson."

"Oh I know, Bayanne. I remember that one boy you came home with once..."

"And again... it wasn't like that. He really only gave me a ride. That was all that happened. I swear to the heavens and back. And also, he wasn't nearly as bad as his reputation. He was very polite."

"No young man is polite without motive." Hershel noted and watched her stiffen and her smile vanish from her face.

"I know." she said quietly. _I know that better than anyone._

Hershel watched her with a sad smile on his face as she focused her attention on some potatoes she had washed before he had entered the kitchen. He had long ago given up on getting her to tell him what had happened all those years ago, before she had come to live with them. He knew some of it, but he was sure he was very far from knowing the whole truth. He knew that a young man had broken her heart, and that it had been such a bad experience that she had left her hometown. She had told him about her life back in Dalton, but the details surrounding the young man she had been with, those she had kept to herself to this day. They only knew that she had been in love and that he had hurt her badly, by taking all she had. Hershel thought that she still might not be over it, even after over a decade. Pain was etched into her features every time something from her past came up during a conversation. He wished she would talk to him or to Maggie or Beth. He had always wished she would maybe confide in his late wife Annette, and he had hoped that talking and opening up about it would help her to move past it, but she never had and she probably never will. He had accepted that a couple of years ago.

"DAAAAAD!" Maggie's loud yell made them both startle and Hershel quickly got up from his chair and went outside to the porch with Bay in tow. They watched a strange man run up to the house. He looked to be wearing a sheriff's uniform and he was holding a child in his arms. Further behind them was their farm hand Otis and another strange man, who was egging the overweight man on to keep running.

"Hershel! Are you Hershel?" The man that was carrying the boy shouted frantically when he got out of the field.

"Was he bit?" Hershel asked and shudders ran through Bay at the thought of the little boy having been bitten by one of those sick people running around. She knew full well what is fate might be.

"Shot! By your man Otis!" The man, who would later introduce himself as Rick Grimes, replied. Hershel immediately started barking commands, like he always did when they had to do an emergency procedure on one of the animals. It helped Bay slip into her professional mode and a calm settled over her in the panicked atmosphere of the room. She prepped everything that needed prepping and helped Hershel while he tried to save the boy's life. She was clueless to the fact, that with the arrival of Rick Grimes, fate had struck once again, and that it would bring someone very familiar back into her life.

* * *

The next two days went by in a blur. Bay had volunteered to go and get Rick's wife Lori from the highway to be with her son and husband, but Hershel had declined her offer and had let Maggie go instead. He needed Bay around to help him out with the medical stuff, and they still had animals that needed tending to. Shane Walsh, apparently Rick's best friend and former deputy, had gone off to find a respirator with Otis, and had returned with the respirator, but without Otis. Bay had had a weird feeling after the surgery. Shane had given off an overly nervous vibe every time Otis' name had come up and it made the hairs on her arms stand up. Something about the guy was fishy. She couldn't wait for them to leave again. She liked Rick and Lori alright, but this Shane character made her feel uneasy.

Still, she fixed him a plate and put it on the dining room table with a glass of sweet tea, before she filled two plates for Rick and Lori and put them on a tray to carry over into the guest room with their cold beverages.

"Thank you, Bay." Lori gave her a grateful smile while her tears still streamed down her cheeks continuously.

"You're very welcome. You both need to keep your strength up. You especially." She smiled gently at a pale Rick. "Um,... I'm sorry if it offends you, but I cut your food into bite-sized pieces, so you can eat only using the fork. You need to keep your arm still while you give blood..." Bay suddenly felt silly. She probably should have asked first before doing that, but Rick shot her a small smile and thanked her for her thoughtfulness, while Lori let out a little laugh. Bay chuckled a little herself. At least she had succeeded in amusing the couple for a short moment. "Holler if you need anything." she put her hand on Lori's shoulder for a second in a comforting gesture, before she left the room again and let herself plop down on the sofa in the living room, next to Beth, and leaned her head against the young girl's shoulder. Beth smiled and tilted her head to the side to rest it against Bay's for a moment.

"Things are changing." Beth said quietly.

"It's only temporary. Once Carl has healed enough, they will be on their way and things will go back to normal." Bay yawned and closed her eyes for a moment.

"Do you really think they will leave? After being out there in the open for so long? I don't see them going back to that. Not willingly." Beth's words made Bay freeze.

"You think they would try to take the farm?"

"No... Maybe... I don't know. Maybe it would be good for them to stay. We'd have more help around here. They have weapons and they know how to shoot and protect. They have experience with those sick people." Beth explained her train of thought.

"They do, but we don't need their experience. It has been over six months since the outbreak and we barely felt any of it out here so far. It would be better if things would just return to normal. If we'd just return to our boring lives and our boring routines. Boring is good. Boring is predictable. I like that." Bay muttered quietly.

"A little excitement doesn't hurt." Beth giggled.

"You and your need to experience and do something all the time. You're gonna give your father a heart attack one of these days." Bay laughed.

"I'm not that bad, and he knows it."

"He does." Bay agreed and sat back up to stretch out her tired limbs.

"I'm gonna go to bed. You coming up, too?" Beth asked as she got up.

"Soon. I think I'm gonna join Maggie on the porch for a couple of minutes. Get some fresh air."

"Alright. Sleep tight. Love you."

"Love you, too, Beth. Have a good night."

Beth went upstairs and Bay went back into the kitchen to fill up two more glasses with sweet tea, emptying the pitcher and putting it in the sink, before she went outside and sat down on the bench next to the other Greene girl. "How you doing, Maggie?"

"I'm alright." Maggie shrugged with a smile, making Bay grin. She admired the younger woman. Maggie was always the epitome of cool. She kept a clear head and took things in stride. There wasn't much that ever bothered the eldest Greene sister.

"I knew you would be."

"How about you? I know how much you hate change." Maggie gently poked her elbow into Bay's ribs in a teasing gesture.

"It's not really about hating change... I'm just not a big fan of surprises. Not anymore." Bay explained before she took a sip from her glass.

"Well, then you probably won't be a fan of that..." Maggie sat up straighter as headlights approached.

"Good God, what now?" Bay muttered and squinted her tired eyes. "Think it's people from their group?"

"I'm sure it is." The car came closer and Maggie spotted the young Asian guy, who she had previously seen in the woods when she had fetched Lori. "Yeah... I recognize him. It's some of their group members."

Maggie and Bay sat and watched as two men got out of the car and walked up to the house,... straight past them. "That's not very polite!" Maggie spoke up, startling the men and making Bay smirk in response.

"Oh, I'm sorry... we... oh... we didn't see you there." The man took of his baseball hat and smiled nervously. "I'm Glenn... this is T-Dog." he pointed to the African-American men next to him, who seemed to be in not very good shape.

"Are you okay? You aren't bit, are you?" Bay frowned as she got up and carefully walked closer.

"No. Tore my arm up good on a car back on the highway." the man answered in a weak voice.

"Let's get you inside. I'll take a look at it. Hershel is busy with Carl." Bay led the way inside and made T-Dog sit down at the dining table. She brought over a lamp from the living room to have better light, and looked at the long cut on T-Dog's arm. "Oh wow,... yeah, you definitely need stitches. And most definitely a couple rounds of antibiotics. I don't know if we have enough left, to be honest."

"That's okay, we have some." Glenn said and rummaged through his back pack. He tossed a small pill bottle at Bay, who caught it with ease.

"Doxicyclin. Not ba-" she stopped talking mid-word, her eyes widening when she read the patient's name on the label. _Merle Dixon._ _No... come on! _She started shaking as anger, confusion and panic rolled over her like a big tidal wave. She thought she might throw up. Merle Dixon was in their group? "Merle Dixon? He give you this?" she tried to kept her voice even and neutral when she asked the men, while Maggie looked at her with a frown, noticing the subtle change in Bay's demeanor.

"No, Ma'am. Merle is no longer with us." Glenn replied.

"He died?"

"Um... we don't know... he kind of got lost." Glenn explained, making Bay scoff internally. She knew how good Merle was at getting lost. He probably took from them what he needed and took off. That's what Dixons did. "His brother gave them to us." Glenn continued and Bay felt like the rug had been pulled out from under her. She actually physically recoiled and took a step back. She should have known. She shouldn't be surprised. If Merle was with them, or had been with them, then Daryl wouldn't be far.

_No! No, no, no, no, no, no... No. Just no. He is not here. No. He is not currently within two miles of this farm... No. He is NOT coming here. This is not happening! Carl will heal, the group will wait on the highway. He is not going to come here. _The panic inside of her increased tenfold. Angry tears stung her eyes and she quickly turned around so the others wouldn't see.

"Bay? What's wrong, are you alright?" a concerned Maggie took a step closer, but Bay slammed the pill bottle on the table and damn near fled the room. "I need to wash my hands." she mumbled and raced to the bathroom to lock herself in, not even thinking about the injured man who needed her help. She needed a moment to calm down. This just couldn't be happening. Eleven years... She had spent every single day of those eleven years thinking about him. She had never been able to let go of it. The answers she was missing didn't let her rest. Eleven freaking years and he still haunted her and now he was about to be back in her life, in the flesh. Briefly, with any luck not at all, but the chances weren't good. She felt all those feelings from the past with renewed vigor. The betrayal, the anger, the hurt, the heartache. Well, she wanted answers, this might be her chance, in case he didn't just turn around and would run for the hills again. Or for the highway. It was in that moment that she realized, that she might not be ready to hear any answers he might have for her. She wasn't ready to face him. She wasn't ready to see his damn face, those beautiful blue eyes, see his sinful lips move... No, she wasn't ready. She might launch herself at him like a screaming banshee and slap him silly before she broke down crying. She would make a fool of herself. No, she couldn't face him. Maybe he wouldn't recognize her. He sure had forgotten about her a long time ago. She wasn't even sure if the tattoo had been real. She had never spent much time inspecting it. Maybe it had been temporary... She looked a little different. Older of course, more mature. Her hair was just a tad bit lighter, a rich shade of brown instead of almost black. Maybe he wouldn't recognize her and she would get away with just ignoring him. Maybe she should stay in the stables with the horses until the group left. Stay out of sight.

"Bay?" The knock on the door shocked her out of her thoughts and she instinctively clutched her chest when her heart beat faster. "Jesus Christ... I'll be right out." she shouted through the door before she really started to wash her hands. She splashed some cold water in her face as well, before she pulled herself together and went back to the people waiting for her, ignoring Maggie's concerned gaze.

"So... This Merle fella... what did he use those pills for?" she asked while she stitched up T-Dog.

"The clap." Glen answered straight up and Bay had to fight to keep in her laugh. _Serves you right, you dirty bastard._

"Thank God for Merle Dixon's sexually promiscuous behavior. It might just save your life." Bay deadpanned.

"Hm... the irony." T-Dog mumbled and shared a look with Glenn. T-Dog was the one who dropped the key and left Merle on that roof, where he had cut off his own hand. And now Merle was indirectly saving T-Dogs life. Irony indeed.

"I'm about done here. Maggie, would you fix our guests a plate? I'm sure they want to say hi to the others and then eat something."

"On it." Maggie nodded and pushed past Glen, who started fidgeting and nervously shifting his weight when she brushed his front with her arm. Bay smirked slightly. Seemed like the young man hadn't been around women too much.

While Bay bandaged up T-Dog's arm she decided to ask what the plan was. "The rest of your group... Are they staying on the highway? Looking for that little girl until Carl is ready to travel again?"

"No, Ma'am." Glenn shook his head.

_Ma'am? I'm not that old yet. _"It's Bay." she told him, before she realized what he had said. "No? What do you mean no? Are they going to keep traveling and you will follow them later?" she asked in hopes that the answer to that question would be a yes.

"No, Ma'... Bay... They are gonna pull up stakes and join us here in the morning." Glenn explained.

"We are going to use this as our base during the search for Sophia." T-Dog added, and Bay's heart fell. It was happening. It really, really was happening. She would see Daryl again.

_Sleeping in the stables has never sounded this good, _she thought and gave the men a tight smile while she pulled off her latex gloves. "I see... We are done here. You can go see your people now. They are in the guest room. Second door on the right." she got up and cleaned up the table, before she retreated to her room without another word.

"She seems tightly wound." Glenn muttered and helped a weakened T-Dog up from his chair.

"You would be, too, if a bunch of strangers invaded your house and bled all over the place." T-Dog reminded him, causing the younger man to nod.

"Yeah... true."

* * *

Bay kept the lights off as she dropped on her back on the bed. Her feelings were in one hell of a turmoil. She was not able to wrap her head around the fact, that Daryl freaking Dixon, the man who had ruined her life, would come to this farm in a couple of hours. To her home. She was scared. She was overwhelmed, and she was most definitely still pissed.

Then again, she had to ask herself; had he really ruined her life? Sure, she hadn't been able to go to college, she hadn't been able to become a shrink, but she had found a wonderful and loving family, a peaceful and cozy home and a job that she loved. Hershel had trained her and she had been his veterinary assistant for years. Not a shrink, but still kind of a doctor. Not officially of course. She had taken a class here and there, but they hadn't been able to afford to send her to veterinary college. So, hadn't Daryl's betrayal actually led to her having a nice and quiet life with a whole family that loved her?

That thought infuriated her. Her anger grew when she thought about how she might actually have to thank him for lying to her, deceiving her and ultimately robbing and leaving her. She had once thanked the Lord in tears for sending her Daryl, saying that he had sent her the best of the best. _Best liar maybe._ She scoffed loudly. "Don't tell me I have to thank you again, because he ultimately gave me all of this." she said while she played with her 18-year-old cross necklace. "You can be one twisted son of a gun, you know that? You're not really sending him here so I can thank HIM, right? I won't. He's lucky if he leaves this farm in one piece. He taught me how to shoot after all, and he was a damn good teacher. I sure won't miss."

"Talking to the man upstairs?" Maggie startled her for the second time that night.

"Oh my God, Greene! I'm this close to putting a damn cow bell on you. That's the second time you sent me into cardiac arrest today."

"Sorry. Just wanted to see how you were doing. You seemed shaken up down there. Everything okay?"

"Right as rain."

"Are you sure?"

"It's just been a weird couple of days."

"Yeah, but you kept your cool. You were only weird when you read the name on that pill bottle. Did it sound familiar? Did you know him?" Maggie questioned her.

"No. It was nothing. It's just going to be weird having these strangers around. The ones that are here right now seem nice enough, but... I don't know. I just need some sleep." Bay didn't feel like explaining her history with the Dixons to her. She had never told any of them. If she wouldn't succeed in ignoring Daryl, then they all would find out the truth soon enough. _Maybe I should tell them. They probably wouldn't allow him to come here._ But she would never do that. She knew that, despite everything, she would feel guilty and bad, if Daryl would have to stay behind on the highway alone. If he died, that would be on her. No, she wouldn't be the one to blame for anything happening to him. Let him come,... she would deal somehow.

* * *

_I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I'm not ready. _That was the predominant state of mind for Bay all throughout the night and into the morning. She kept glancing outside nervously, and when she was outside, she would strain her ears every couple of minutes, thinking that she had heard a car pull up. When late morning rolled around she was inside the kitchen, fixing a fresh pitcher of sweet tea, when Maggie opened the screen door and shouted 'Incoming.'

Bay froze and looked around in a panic. "Um, I'm gonna go take care of the horses."

"Now? Why don't you meet the new people first?" Hershel questioned as he stopped in the doorway on his way out.

"I can meet them later." Bay replied and left through the back door in a hurry and ran over to the stables to hide out, as silly as it was. Of course she didn't **just** hide out. She looked out the opened gate of the stables and observed the rest of the group driving up to the house. She saw two women and an older man getting out of the RV and closing the doors, which meant that nobody else was in there, which meant that the guy on the motorcycle had to be Daryl.

_No, that can't be... _Bay squinted and looked at the guy a little more closely. He had his back turned to her, but it was obvious that he was filthy. He didn't look very familiar, but then again, so far Bay hadn't taken into account that Daryl had aged as well and might look different. The shoulders definitely matched the Daryl she had known, but she still wasn't convinced that it was truly him. She watched him and his defensive stance, while the other newcomers hugged Rick and Lori, him being the only one who didn't participate in the hug fest. Bay's gaze left the back of his head and traveled down his muscular arms which were covered in grime and dirt, just like his clothes. She had a strange feeling watching that man. He seemed familiar, but then again he didn't. She was so engrossed in watching him, that she didn't notice right away that he had turned around, but when her eyes flicked back up, she finally saw his face. She gasped audibly as her stomach dropped to the floor. Yeah, he looked different, but there was no doubt now, that this was truly Daryl. Same face, albeit dirty, older and hardened. He squinted and put his hand to his eyebrows to shield his eyes from the sun and Bay quickly disappeared back into the stables with her heart racing. She didn't know what she was feeling. She was feeling a lot of different things at the same time, but she wasn't really able to analyze all the different things swirling through her right now. Panic seemed to be on the forefront though. She had no idea how to face him, even though she hadn't been the one to leave him. What do you say to someone who ripped your heart out and took your dreams away eleven years ago?Hi? Not likely. She was glad that for now, she was able to hide out here, but it was only a temporary solution. There would be Otis' memorial in a couple of hours and she would have to come out of hiding for that.

* * *

"These are my daughters Maggie and Beth. This is Beth's friend Jimmy, and you'll meet my other daughter later. She's tending to the horses right now." Hershel told Carol, Dale, Andrea and Daryl as introductions were made. Hershel had been affectionately referring to Bay as his third daughter for years. He thought it would be the best to introduce her as his daughter to these strangers as well to show, that she was under his protection, just like Maggie and Beth. Nobody of the highway group knew that she wasn't his biological daughter and where he was concerned, nobody needed to know. Those people would leave again soon anyway.

Daryl had caught glimpse of the third daughter, when he had turned around after he'd felt like someone was watching him. He hadn't been able to see much, the sun had blinded him, but that was okay. He didn't care about these people anyway. Right now he only cared about finding little Sophia, and alive hopefully. He grabbed his gear from his bike and out of the RV after Hershel had shown them where they were allowed to set up camp. Years of training and experience had him pitching his tent within minutes. He helped Carol, who was struggling a little, with hers, then he helped build a fire pit, before he grabbed his crossbow and left the camp area. Daryl liked knowing what he was dealing with. He liked exploring and getting to know his environment, in case he had to make a quick exit, so he decided to walk around some and get the lay of the land. Well, except for the barn. For whatever reason the farmer wanted them to steer clear of it. Daryl would stick to that for now, not wanting to be the reason for getting the injured boy kicked out of the house sooner than what was good for him.

Daryl wandered off towards the pastures, watching the cows and the horses grazing. He would never admit it out loud, but he enjoyed the view immensely. It was a miracle that this farm had been completely untouched by the destruction and death the outbreak had brought upon the country. At least in their parts of it. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad to stick around here, he thought as he kept walking. He checked out the small orchard and snagged himself a ripe peach that he was able to reach. He hadn't had fresh fruit in months and he savored every bite of the sweet treat while he walked towards the stables. He didn't enter, the horses weren't in there anyway, so he was sure there was not much to see. He tossed the peach pit aside and sucked the fruit juices off his fingers as he walked to the back of the stables, his ears having picked up some noisy cluttering coming from back there. Might just be the other daughter, but after having dealt with walkers for too long already, he thought he better check it out just in case. He lifted his crossbow off his back and slowly sneaked around the corner on silent feet, not wanting to alert a possible threat to his presence. He relaxed and lowered the bow again, when he noticed that it really only was the other farmer's daughter, who was fumbling around with some metal buckets.

Bay was cleaning out the feed buckets, so they wouldn't turn into new homes for a variety of maggots, when she felt a presence behind her. "Did you bring the new sponges?" Bay asked and turned around, thinking it was Maggie who had promised to help her. Bay got the shock of her life, when, instead of Maggie, she looked directly into the eyes of her former boyfriend. Her eyes went wide and she stopped breathing. She was literally paralyzed in shock as she stared at Daryl, whose brows were knit in confusion as he quickly scanned her face with his eyes. He looked absolutely puzzled, he blinked his eyes a couple of times and lightly shook his head before he looked at her again.

_That voice..._ He knew that voice. He'd heard it inside his head every day for the past eleven years, but it sounded different this time. Lower... but still the same. Daryl didn't know what he was seeing. Was he dehydrated and hallucinating? Had he gotten drunk at some point or had he accidentally popped one of Merle's exstasy pills instead of pain killers? He usually only saw and heard her this vividly when he was out of his mind drunk or stoned. He hadn't been stoned in ages, but drunk had only been a couple of days ago. He'd seen her again then, like he was seeing her again now, but only, this time it was different. He'd never ever imagined her like this. He'd always seen her the way she used to look before she died, but this time his mind had conjured up a more grown up version. What was going on? Was he dying? And why was she looking at him like that. Like she was terrified of him? Was he a damn walker? Something definitely wasn't right. This wasn't like his usual visions of her.

"Hey." Maggie walked up behind Daryl and smiled at Bay. "Here are the sponges."

Bay took them from Maggie with shaky hand, while Daryl stared at Maggie like the girl had lost her mind. _You see her, too? _he was tempted to ask, but he was still too confused to make words come out of his mouth. Maggie looked back and forth between those two and she realized, that they hadn't been introduced. "Oh that's right. You haven't met yet. Bay, this is Daryl. Daryl, this is Bay."

_Wait a minute... THIS IS REAL? _The voice inside his head yelled at him. _No. Ain't no way. She died... This ain't her... I'm just losin' it._

Maggie frowned as she picked up on the weird mood. "Umm, everything okay?"

"Yeah. You know what, you can go back to the house. Daryl here was nice enough to offer to help me." Bay tried to put a genuine smile on her face, not sure if she had succeeded or not.

"You sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Go on." Bay gently pushed Maggie in the direction of the house, right past an extremely confused Daryl.

"I guess you hoped you'd never see me again, huh?" Bay asked quietly when Maggie was out of earshot. She watched Daryl's jaw go slack and his eyes widen as he realized, that this indeed was reality and no hallucination. The tip of his crossbow hit the ground as he lost his grip in shock.

"Bay...?" his voice was a mere whisper as he tentatively took a step forward. "How's this... no... this can't be..."

Bay frowned when she saw Daryl's eyes start to water. _Why in the world is he about to cry? _She was so distracted by it, that she didn't notice him reaching out his hand to touch her. A shock went through her when his hand touched her bare arm and she quickly took a step back. Daryl followed and let out a little sob when he felt her warm skin against his palm. The feeling was so achingly familiar, it felt like it had been just yesterday that he had last touched her. This was real. She was really here. "Bay." her name came out with another sob as he tried to close the distance between them, but Bay tore her arm out of his grasp. "Don't you dare touch me, Daryl Dixon!" she hissed, finally finding her anger towards him again. She didn't like the feeling of him sparking electricity inside of her with a single touch. It wasn't supposed to be like that anymore.

Daryl was still too dumbfounded to acknowledge her reaction. "It's really you. How is this possible? You died... What the fuck...?" Suddenly his confusion turned into anger and his eyes narrowed as he stared at her, angrily wiping a tear off his cheek, that had escaped. "Yer alive and ya can't even fucking tell anyone? We thought you were dead!" he shouted at her.

"What are you stammering on about? Does it look like I'm dead? I just left town, but I bet you wish I was dead right about now!"

"You died. They told me you died. When I came back for you, Pat told me you jumped off Murray Bridge." Daryl yelled, still not able to believe what he was seeing right in front of him. It was impossible.

"Oh, you came back for me?" Bay laughed sarcastically. "Why? Ran out of money? Wanted to come check if I had earned some more for you to steal?" _I died... right... he is still every bit as good of an actor as ever. Really good at improv. He should have made a career out of that. _

"What are you talking about?" Daryl was confused by her words. Sure he expected some anger for him skipping town, but what was that about stealing money?

"Tell me, Daryl... How much fun was it for you? Did you get your rocks off lying to me and deceiving me? Did you get off on making me fall in love with you and then take everything I had and leave out of the damn blue? Did you have a good laugh at pathetic, gullible little Bay?" she shouted at him as she got right in his face.

"I left to protect you! So you'd be safe! Merle fucked up, they took his damn finger... we had to leave before they found out about you! I came back for you a couple months later!" Daryl shouted back, waving his free hand around in the air in desperation.

"Yeah right! So keeping me safe meant leaving me with nothing? I needed you Daryl! I needed that money! You didn't even leave a lousy one dollar bill behind, Daryl! Is that your idea of keeping me safe?"

"The fuck are you talking about? I didn't take no money from you!" he defended himself against her accusations. He had no idea why she would think he had stolen her money.

"Oh good God, save it. I don't wanna hear it. You know what? For eleven years I wanted answers. I wondered every day what those answers might be... Now I realize that I couldn't care less about them. You're a liar, Daryl. Everything that comes out of your mouth is a fucking lie. Everything. I won't ever be lied to by you again. Stay away from me. In a week tops, you'll be out of my life again and I couldn't be happier about that. Don't talk to me, don't come near me, I don't want you around me." Bay told him decisively, giving him an evil glare while she went past him and back into the stables, leaving an utterly confused Daryl behind.

His head was a mess. Bay was alive. Eleven years of thinking she was dead, because of what he'd done, eleven years of being angry at her for opting out... and now the confusion, but also happiness at seeing her alive and well. And then even more confusion and anger at her accusing him of stealing from her. That didn't make any sense. he needed to clear his head. Now. He quickly strapped his bow back to his back and strode off towards the woods to think and hopefully find some trace of Sophia.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Reunited, and it feels so... well, not quite THAT good yet, lol. Seems like they have a lot to talk about once they get their thoughts in order.**

**Can I say WOW? You guys rock. The amount of reviews was insane. Someone called it a little mid-season finale and I guess it was kind of fitting. Thank you so much, I cannot thank you enough, your response was a great motivator. Thank you to all the guest reviewers, too. You guys are so inspiring, I love that you are all taking this journey with me.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

Daryl had been out in the woods looking for Sophia for about three hours, before he went back towards the farm. It had been a dangerous thing to do, go into the woods while he was as distracted as he was, but he was good at multi-tasking and thankfully there had only been less than a handful of walkers around. Before he left the woods behind for the day, he climbed up on a tree just at the edge of the treeline. He sat down on a sturdy branch and looked out at the farm that was located across the field. He replayed his shouting match with Bay inside his mind, but not without still shaking his head in disbelief. She was alive. And she was furious with him. He used to love her getting all mad and frustrated, seeing the fire blaze up in her eyes... Today it had just stung. He'd wanted to hold her and he'd wanted to kiss her... That had been one of his first instincts. Wrap his arms around her and never let her go again. But she had shoved him away, and not even for the reason he thought she would. _Someone stole her money?_ His heart ached even more at that. She had worked hard to earn and save every penny. To have that taken away... And she thought it had been him? Suddenly Daryl sat up straight. _Awww hell no! _Merle had picked him up straight from work... And all of Daryl's things had been in the truck. _Merle, you fucking bastard! If I ever see you again, you better run! _He couldn't believe Merle had done that. Well, actually he could. But then again, he couldn't. They had left town to protect her and Merle had taken payment for it. Her hard-earned cash. _I'm so fuckin' stupid. Where did I think he'd gotten all the money for his drugs from? For the fancy apartment? Shit man... shit..." _

He was ashamed to admit it, but Daryl hadn't questioned anything back then. He'd been too distraught over leaving the love of his life behind, so he'd started every day getting lit before noon. That was, if he even woke up before noon. Being drunk had been his therapy. Even before she had "died" it had been the only way for him to see her and talk to her and he'd needed that like he needed air to breathe. Yeah, he had spent the past decade being angry at her for apparently taking the easy way out, for not being strong enough, for not believing in him enough... but most of all he'd simply missed her. Not a day had gone by when she hadn't popped up inside his head. He still loved her, plain and simple. He'd buried those feelings in the past ten years, stuffed them down until they were only a dull ache instead of horribly strong stabbing pains inside is heart. Even though they hadn't started off on the right foot a couple of hours ago, seeing her alive, hearing her voice, feeling her skin... he might have loved her more in that moment than he'd ever loved her before, which was why he'd wanted to go back to kissing her right away. Pick up right where they had left off, like there hadn't been eleven years of not seeing each other, him believing she was dead and her believing he had just wanted her money.

Which brought him back to the problem at hand. Merle and his stupid actions. Always ruining shit for them. Now Daryl seriously had to wonder, if there had ever been any Mexicans after Merle. Maybe he'd made all that up? Chopped off his own finger in a meth rage or something like that. He had always wanted Daryl to follow him around like a puppy. He hadn't liked how Bay had changed his little brother, and he had kept telling Daryl, that Bay didn't really love him. And Daryl had partially believed him for the longest time, letting Merle plant doubts in his head, letting Merle make him doubt his girl. _Never again you stupid son of a bitch. Guess you're finally paying for yer damn sins now. You fucking asshole made it look like I took her cash. You made her hate me even more. _Daryl was sure that he had never felt hatred that pure toward anyone like he was feeling toward Merle in this moment. Not even his abusive daddy had made him feel this kind of unadulterated hate.

He had to make things right. Now that Bay was here, he never wanted to leave. Even if it meant camping out in these woods for the rest of his life, he would gladly do it if it meant he'd truly be able to protect her this time. Someone up there was still there, still cared, and was giving him a second chance. He knew that he probably owed it to her to respect her wishes and leave her alone, but seriously, how could he? His girl was miraculously alive, he'd found her after a fucking decade, there was no way in hell he'd let her out of his sight again. No, he couldn't leave her alone, he had to tell her that it hadn't been him, who'd stolen her money, that he had wanted to take her with them, that he'd gone back for her. She needed to hear him out, to let him explain, and he needed to know why her things had been found on that bridge with that blood and how she had gotten to live here. Determined he climbed off the tree and strode back to the camp. Today he'd leave her alone, but tomorrow, they would talk.

* * *

Maggie Greene had a hard time focusing on the words her father was speaking during the service for Otis. She felt bad about being distracted while they honored their late friend, but she wasn't able to ignore this weird tension between Bay and that Daryl guy. Something was going on there, and she would find out what it was. Even now Daryl was staring at her with narrowed eyes, seemingly studying even the tiniest one of her features, while it was obvious how hard Bay fought not to look at him, too. She knew it had to have something to do with that pill bottle. Ever since Bay had laid eyes on the label, she had been out of sorts. One thing she was sure of was, that Bay had lied about not knowing the guy who the antibiotics had belonged to, and she was sure that if Bay knew that guy, she also knew his brother, who would be Daryl, which would explain the feeling of familiarity between the two, which Maggie had picked up on. She just needed a little more info to connect the rest of the dots.

Bay, meanwhile, kept her eyes firmly trained on Shane, who was stuttering and stammering his way through his brief story of Otis' last moments. He kept shifting his weight and wringing his hands nervously and it had Bay tilting her head to the side as she looked at him suspiciously with narrowed eyes. She was sure that the man was lying through his teeth, something definitely wasn't right with that story of his. She had no idea why the rest of the group wasn't picking up on his high-strung demeanor,... at least it seemed like nobody else was suspicious of him. Nobody except for one other person.

Daryl watched Bay watching Shane. He knew she wasn't buying what Walsh was selling, he could see it clearly in her expression. She could ignore him all she wanted, but she was still an open book to read to Daryl. He knew all of her expressions, and intimately so. She might have aged and matured, her features sharper now that her baby-fat was completely gone, her voice might have changed a little, her speech slower and calmer, and her movements might have turned more fluid and more graceful than when she had been 18 years old, but her eyes were as expressive as ever. They told him clearly that she knew the same thing he did, that Shane was lying. Pride filled him up with warmth and he had to fight a smirk. _That's my smart girl._ The moment the thought had popped up he was also filled with disappointment, because "his smart girl" didn't want anything to do with him right now. He understood why, but that didn't mean that it didn't sting.

He wasn't able to take his eyes off of her. She had always been cute, to him she had always been beautiful, but now she was damn stunning. She had turned even more beautiful while he had just gotten fatter from too much junk food and drinking. _Prolly serves me right._ He'd always thought that look-wise she had been out of his league, even though he thought he hadn't looked too bad when they had been together, but now their difference in appearance was glaringly obvious. He was a dirty, old, ugly redneck with a little bit of a beer gut left, while she was a damn goddess. She had filled out, too, but in all the goddamn right places. His hands were itching to feel and explore her anew, but he was aware of the fact that he might never get to do it. He knew she wasn't superficial, her reasons for never letting him near her again wouldn't be tied to his looks, but to what she thought he had done to her and the thing he really had done to her. Yeah, he really had to make things right. Badly. And then he needed to find out if there was even the tiniest chance of her forgiving him and giving him another chance.

She was the last one to place a stone on the big pile, before the group dispersed. There were too many people around, so he didn't call out for her, although he felt tempted to. Instead he retreated back to the campsite with his group and sat around the fire. He was more than a little surprised, when Bay and Maggie came over later, bringing them some things Carol could use to prepare dinner. Bay also used the opportunity to properly introduce herself to the others, apologizing for not doing it sooner, but that she had been busy with the horses. That's when Daryl realized that she had been the one watching him. That's why she hadn't been more surprised to see him when he had run into her, she had already known about him being here, and she had chosen to hide out instead of coming to see him. He knew he had no right to be, but he was miffed about it. On the other hand it had probably been better to meet for the first time without anybody else around. Maggie had been enough. The girl kept looking at him with interest. _Probably asking herself why a girl like Bay ever hooked up with the likes of me. _He sent Maggie a scowl before he looked back into the fire, poking around in it with a long stick. When he wasn't looking, Bay looked over at him as inconspicuously as possible.

He looked good. Dirty,... almost filthy, but underneath all the dirt, he looked good. His face was no longer angelic. The softness he used to have had been replaced by angular features and razor-sharp cheekbones. The facial hair was new, too... His hair was darker, which was weird, because he used to be really blond, but maybe it was due to the dirt. It was also short... so short that it almost hurt her. She had used to love his long shaggy hair. Gone was the lanky 20 year old Daryl. He had buffed up, gained weight and muscles. His arms looked like deadly weapons. Muscles bulging and nicely defined. Strong and manly. Those shoulders... He'd always had a good pair of shoulders, but they were even more pronounced now, because his upper body was beefier, while his hips and legs had stayed thin and lean. Yeah, he definitely looked good to her, and when he caught her looking at him and they stared into each others eyes for a prolonged moment, she felt a tug on her heartstrings.

_What am I doing? _She quickly looked away and focused her attention back on the fella named Dale. She wasn't able to really listen to him though, her mind was racing too much for her to pay much attention to the older man. _Why does he still have this power over me? It's not supposed to be this way. He hurt me so much. Why can't I just hate him, and __**only**__hate him? Because I still can't fully accept that it was all a big lie, that's why. _She hosted a 1-woman-debate-club inside her head, while Dale talked to the girls about the journey the group had taken so far. She felt Daryl's eyes burning holes into her, but she kept herself from looking over there again. She couldn't risk it. It was obvious that she couldn't really trust herself around him, because it seemed like there were still some residual feelings inside of her where Daryl was concerned. "Excuse me,..." she smiled politely at Dale. "I'm sorry for interrupting, but I really need to get back inside... Bathroom..."

"Oh of course, don't let me keep you. Plenty of opportunity to talk tomorrow." he smiled genuinely and stepped out of the way a little so Bay would be able to walk past him.

"Are you coming, too?" she asked Maggie, who nodded in reply.

"Just holler if you need anything." Maggie told everyone in earshot, before the girls left the camp site.

Bay tried, but her eyes had a mind of their own and they caught Daryl's gaze again for a brief moment. _Damnit. _She cursed herself as she felt just like she had back then, in the beginning of that thing they'd had. She really couldn't believe that after everything he had done, that he was still able to evoke these reactions and feelings inside of her. Was she really that much of a sucker for punishment and emotional torture? _Looks that way._

Maggie had seen the looks they had given each other, and she had a theory, but she wouldn't say anything about it to Bay, yet. She wanted to observe the two of them some more before she would confront her older "sister". Little did she know, that she would soon have her hands full with another guy from the group, who would distract her from her mission a little.

* * *

Daryl was nervous when he trudged back towards the farm in the late afternoon the next day. He'd spent all day looking for Sophia, but unfortunately, he'd come up empty. Now that the most important part was done for the day, it was time for him to seek out Bay and make her listen to him. She just had to know the truth. If she still hated him after that, fine, so be it, but then at least she would be hating him for the right reasons and not for something Merle had done all by himself. However, he had no way of getting her attention. As soon as he was back from his search, she hid out inside the house, and there was no way for him to go barging in there and demanding to see her.

Two more days would go by without him seeing her. It was ridiculous. They were living on the same farm right now, and yet he never saw her. Anger and frustration were beginning to build. He hadn't found her just to stare at that damn farm house with longing in his eyes, wishing she would come out and come looking for him. This was his second chance dammit, she had to give it to him.

When he went to head back out in the early morning of the third day, he got his opportunity when he saw her walking into the chicken coop to feed the animals. He followed her and closed the door behind him silently when he had entered. "Finally done hidin' out from me?"

Bay jumped and whirled around angrily. "What in the world is it with you people and trying to give me damn heart attacks?"

"You didn't answer my question."

"I don't have to answer any of your questions, Daryl." Bay mumbled stubbornly as she turned back around and started to feed the chicken. "I told you to leave me alone and I expect you to at least show me the courtesy of respecting my wishes, after what you did. You owe me that much."

"That's just the thing, Bay. I didn't do what ya think I did. At least hear me out. This is the last time we'll ever see each other. I came back for ya back then, I wanted to explain why I left with Merle. I never got the chance, because they told me you was dead. If I had known you weren't, I would'a searched the whole fucking state for you."

"I don't wanna hear it, Daryl."

"Too fucking bad, 'cause you're gonna hear it anyway. We won't leave this damn chicken coop until ya listened to what I have to say." Daryl said and leaned against the door.

"Oh, so first you steal from me, break my heart, leave me helpless and now you're gonna keep me in here against my will?"

"Would ya stop tryin' ta turn me into some kind of monster? It wasn't like that. Just lemme fucking talk." Daryl was upset and every time he was, his voice sounded just like when he'd been younger. It brought tears to Bay's eyes, but she quickly blinked them away before she turned around to face him.

"Fine. You're right. This is goodbye. Let's get some closure." Bay would be lying if she would say she wasn't curious about what lies he had come up with now. At least one half of her. The other half wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe **in **him, she wanted there to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for him leaving, but she just couldn't imagine that that kind of explanation existed. It didn't make any sense. She was sparring with herself. She just couldn't have been this mistaken about the love of her life. This one half of her refused to believe that. That half believed that Daryl was good. He'd done so much for her when they'd been together. It just contradicted with what he had done at the end and it had both sides of her at war with each other. It's been like that the whole time since he'd left and every time she thought about it, it tore her up and had her in emotional pain all over again. "Talk. Tell me what was so important that you left without so much as a peep. Everything was normal. What happened between you dropping me off at work and me coming home from the damn doctor?"

The doctor! Right! He had wondered for weeks if she was gonna be okay. "What did the doc say? Were ya alright?"

Bay looked at him like he had lost his mind. "DOES IT FREAKING MATTER?" she yelled at him as she lost her cool for a moment. _No, I wasn't alright, Daryl. And I needed you, and you were gone. Everything was even less alright after that. _She took a deep breath to calm herself, before she continued. "I'm still here, right? So stop stalling and just say what you have to say."

"It was Merle."

"Of course it was."

"I was at work, when he showed up, missing a damn finger. It was like ya said all those times before, he pissed off dangerous people. He owed the Mexicans money, that's what he called 'em. They gave him 48 hours and as 'motivation' they cut off his finger. And they said if he wasn't gonna deliver, they were gonna get me and do even worse to me. If they would have found out about you, they might have hurt ya, too. At least that's what Merle said. He said if I care about ya, I had to leave to keep you safe. That it was the only way. I didn't know he took your money. I never thought about it until day before yesterday... he had all my stuff in the truck when he came to get me... He took your cash... I didn't know. You really think I would take your money away? And your chance of going to college?" he asked her almost incredulously.

She just stared at him while half of her did think he would steal from her, and her other half thought that there would be no way in hell that he would steal from her. She really didn't know what to believe anymore. She thought about his explanation and suddenly she let out a laugh. "If what you say is really true, then Merle fooled you twice in one go, you realize that right?"

"What?" Daryl looked at her with his brows knit in confusion, not knowing what she was getting at.

"Apart from his story probably being bullshit anyway... if it was really him who took my cash, and not you..."

"It wasn't me!"

"... then I am pretty sure, that he used my money to pay off those people he pissed off. Then he decided to skip town so he wouldn't have to see me again, and since he is more comfortable with having you around to follow his orders blindly and bail him out of the trouble he got himself into, he convinced you to go with him, with success apparently. Don't you get it, Daryl? If he took my money, then I'm sure he used it to pay his debt to the people who cut off his finger, before he fled town like a bat out of hell." Bay was still huffing out sarcastic laughs. Somehow this did start to make sense to her. As outrageous as it might sound to other people, but this was exactly what Merle Dixon had wanted. To get Daryl out of that relationship and back with him, because he had been sure that Bay would hurt Daryl and dump his ass later anyway. He had been scared of losing his grasp on Daryl, so he had ensured that wouldn't happen.

"That means..." Daryl trailed off as the realization became clearer and clearer.

"There was no danger, Daryl. He just wanted you all to himself. And he succeeded." Bay finished his sentence for him. She watched his eyes water again, but this time it seemed to be pure fury, because she had never seen him look this angry before. He went red in the face and his fists were clenched so hard that his skin had turned white and he was gritting his teeth so hard that Bay was sure she heard them grating against one another.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Daryl started yelling and kicking against the wooden wall of the chicken coop, making the chicken go crazy for a moment.

"Hey! Keep it down!" Bay admonished him. Suddenly the door opened, startling them both.

"Young man, I have to ask you to watch your language and your tone of voice around my daughter." Hershel told Daryl in his no-nonsense fashion. Daryl, who was pacing back and forth in agitation, just gave Hershel the evil eye before he brushed past him and took off towards the stables. He would take a horse out today, better view and also better meaning of transportation for when he found Sophia. Hershel didn't bother watching him leave, he entered the coop instead and scrutinized Bay. "Are you okay, dear?"

"Yes. All good, Hershel." Bay quickly averted her gaze and resumed feeding the animals.

"What was that man doing in here with you? Did he make any advances?"

"No, he didn't. Was just looking for eggs..." Bay shrugged.

"And he was upset when he found none?" Hershel's voice held amusement. He didn't like being lied to, but Bay's explanation had him amused.

"I guess." Bay shrugged again. "What can I do for you, Hershel?"

"Nothing, dear. I just walked by when I heard that ruckus the young man was causing. If those people are causing trouble..."

"They aren't. It was nothing, I promise. Don't kick them off the farm. I think they are good people Hershel, and Carl needs to heal a lot more." Bay quickly told him, citing Carl as the main reason why the group had to stay for now. She denied the real reason to herself, because she didn't want it to be true. Despite her still being extremely pissed at him, it felt good to see Daryl and to talk to him. What were the chances of this happening? The world was changing, she guessed that you could call it some kind of apocalypse, and still fate had brought them together again. _Maybe we're both gonna die soon and the Lord wanted us to clear the air before that happened? Oh Jesus Christ Bay, could you be more morbid? _She frowned at herself and Hershel took note of her different behavior, just like his daughter Maggie had.

"Okay, if you say so, Bay. I will go check on the calf now. I will see you inside later." he stepped towards her before he left and kissed her cheek in a gesture of fatherly affection, causing Bay to give him a genuine smile.

"I'll see you later." she said nodding before she was left alone with her thoughts again. She had once told Daryl that he had to make up his mind about what he wanted. Whether he wanted to be hot or cold towards her. In a way, she had to make the same decision now. She knew she couldn't go back and forth the whole time anymore, she had to decide whether she believed his story or not, and stick to her decision and act accordingly.

When she got back to the house after feeding time, she saw Maggie gearing up for a trip to town.

"Be careful, alright?" Bay put her hand on Maggie's arm and squeezed gently.

"I always am. I won't be alone this time. Glenn is coming with me. He's their guy for getting supplies, I guess."

"That's good. I feel better knowing you have another pair of eyes with you."

"Can't hurt." Maggie smiled, and just like her father, she kissed Bay's cheek before she put on her cowboy hat and left the house. Feeding their animals always took some time, so it was already time to prepare lunch. She smiled when she entered the kitchen and found Beth bustling around in there already.

"Hey." Bay greeted the young girl with a smile.

"I wasn't sure what you wanted to make today, but I already peeled some potatoes. I figured they would go with anything..."

"That's great. I hate peeling potatoes. What do you think we should do with them? We haven't had roasted potatoes in a while."

"I know. Too bad you can't make that herb butter anymore. It was always so good." Beth lamented the loss of some of Bay's dishes which just weren't possible to make anymore.

"Yeah, too bad, but nothing we can do. Without good quality cream, some buttermilk cultures and so on and so forth, that dream is dead." Bay muttered while she gathered the things she needed for cooking.

"You know... it's a good thing that you never became a motivational speaker. What's up with you? You've been so sad these past couple of days. Is it really so bad that the others are here now?" Beth looked at Bay curiously and the older woman was cursing the Greene's and their perceptiveness. She had tried to hide what was going on inside of her, but obviously she was doing a very poor job.

"Bay?" Lori's voice sounded from behind them, before Bay was able to answer Beth.

Bay turned around and saw Lori and Carol standing in the doorway to the kitchen. "Hi, everything okay? Do you need anything?" she asked the two women smilingly.

"No, we actually thought we might do something for you and your family for once." Lori explained.

"We would like to cook for you. Tonight." Carol added.

"If you would be open towards us invading your kitchen." Lori smiled. "We just want to try and give back a little."

"Sure, I'd love that." Bay nodded enthusiastically. "Just tell me what you will need and I will get you fresh veggies from the garden."

"You don't need to ask your father first?" Lori asked carefully, not sure if the old farmer would appreciate them all being in the house for dinner.

"It'll be fine." Beth said. "He's fine as long as good food is on the table."

"Well... great." Lori nodded with a relieved smile, before the women discussed what they would need from the garden. Bay was glad for the distraction and enjoyed planning with the women. It took her mind off of her dilemma. She would later wish that she had enjoyed it more, because she would find herself confronted with and by Daryl even more than before, just a couple of hours later.

* * *

"Wake up." Daryl felt himself getting shaken awake. "Come on. Wanna end up as walker fodder? Come on, ain't no time to play pussy."

Daryl blinked his heavy eyelids open with difficulty. His vision was blurry and he had to open and close his eyes several times until he was able to focus. He froze when he recognized the figure in front of him. "Pa?"

"Surprised to see me, son?"

"You're dead."

"Am I? You didn't have the balls to shoot me in the head, so ya can't be sure, now can ya?"

"Jess did it..."

"Did he? You don't know fer sure. You ran away like a little girl. Not able to handle it. That's your problem, Daryl. You don't have what it takes. You can't make the hard decisions. Always have to have me or your brother telling you what to do... or your bitch."

"You leave her out of it." Daryl groaned as he tried to sit up. Everything hurt and he was sure he was in some kind of hell.

"Awwww, always so quick to defend her, little brother." Merle suddenly appeared and stood next to their father.

"Merle?" Daryl frowned.

"If she means so much ta you, how come I was able to get you to come with me without you putting up much of a fight, huh?"

"You fucking lied to me!"

"I did. It's what I do. She would'a dumped ya anyway. This way I helped ya to keep your dignity at least a little."

"Don't care 'bout my fucking dignity. I cared about her!" Daryl shouted at his hallucinations, when in reality he was really only shouting into an empty forest.

"Sure ya did. It really showed." Will Dixon sneered. "Letting your brother leave her with nothing. That's on you Daryl. All ya had to do was say no to Merle."

"He's right." Merle chuckled. "Yeah, might have given ya a beating for it, but wouldn't that have been worth it? To be with the little Chickadee until she grew tired of you? You left her alone and helpless, baby brother. Wasn't me. Was all you. If you would've figured it out sooner... But no, ya had to wallow in self-pity. You could have stopped it all from happening and ya didn't."

"You were mad at her for taking the easy way out?" Will grinned evilly. "Funny, because it was **you **who took the easy way out."

"And now you'll pay the price for it. That girl ain't never gon' come near yer sorry ass again." Merle chuckled.

"Don't matter." Will looked over his shoulder. "He gone in a minute anyway."

Merle looked in the direction his father was looking, then both made way for the walker that was coming for Daryl.

Daryl's eyes widened and he fought his way up from the ground, that's when he noticed the arrow sticking out of him for the first time. He winced, then he began frantically looking around for his crossbow, while the laughs of his family taunted him.

"Think fast, baby brother."

"I'm gonna kill you." Daryl yelled while he looked around. He finally spied his weapon, up on the hill he'd tumbled down from. The walker was advancing, his growls becoming louder and louder the closer he got. He patted around his belt, when he remembered that he'd had a knife. Thankfully it was still there. He pulled it out of its sheath and imbedded it into the eye of the walker with a squelching sound just in time. Daryl sunk to his knees along with the walker and slowly pulled the blade out of the skull of the now truly dead man. "Yeah, you just run. Imma find you and then Lord may have fucking mercy on you!" Daryl shouted when he no longer saw his family around. He threw up a moment later as his world kept spinning and spinning around him. He must have hit his head. He only remembered vaguely that the horse had thrown him. He must have rolled down that hill, hit a couple of trees along the way and somehow one of his bolts had found its way through his body. He had to get back to the farm as quickly as possible. He carefully peeled off his shirt and cut and tore it into strips and wrapped it around his midriff to tie off his wound. He wasn't gonna pull that thing out out here. If he was gonna bleed out, he wanted to do it while looking at Bay. She was the person he wanted to see while he died. Not his fucked up family. They didn't know shit. With renewed purpose Daryl stood up on shaky legs and slowly worked his way up the hill.

* * *

"Walker! We got a walker coming towards the farm!" Dale shouted down to the group from the top of the RV where he was doing watch. Everybody perked up immediately and Shane and Glenn took off running out into the field with Rick close behind. Dale watched through his binoculars, while the women stood to the side of the RV looking back and forth between the RV and the men out in the field.

"What's going on?" Carol asked, when the men stopped and just stared.

"I don't know. Something isn't right." Dale mumbled as he watched the walker fall to his knees. Instead of shooting it, Rick and Glenn rushed to its side and helped it back up. "Okay, I guess it's not a walker." Dale corrected himself, while the men dragged a seemingly unconscious man with them. Only when they were halfway back, did Dale vaguely recognize the unconscious person. "It's Daryl."

The woman were able to see it now, too, and ran towards the small group of men. "Oh my God, Daryl! What happened? Is he dead?" Carol held her hand up to her mouth as she started crying at the sight of a bloodied, bruised and battered Daryl.

"He's unconscious, but we have to get him to Hershel." Rick said in a strained voice as he and Glenn struggled slightly to keep the dead weight between them upright.

"I'll warn them." Andrea said and took off running towards the farmhouse to tell Hershel that he's got another patient coming in. "Hershel? Hershel?"

"What's wrong?" he came out of the guest room Carl was in.

"It's Daryl. He's injured-" Andrea didn't get to finish her sentence.

"What?" Bay almost dropped the freshly washed and folded linens when she came in from the laundry room and heard Andrea's words. Her heart started slamming inside her chest as panic overcame her without her being able to stop it. "Injured how?"

"He's unconscious, I don't know..." Andrea explained while Hershel nodded and gently pushed her out of the way by her shoulders.

"We'll see. We have to take him to his tent, we don't have any room-"

"No." Bay interrupted him. "Take him to my room. I just changed the sheets and its clean. You can patch him up in there. It's okay."

"You are sure?" Hershel asked while they heard the men coming up the stairs of the porch.

"Yes. Do it." she assured him. Then she watched almost horrified, how the men dragged Daryl's lifeless and blood-stained form past her. Her horror intensified when she saw the arrow sticking out of his side. "Good God... please..." Tears stung her eyes as her heart clenched painfully at the sight of him being hurt. As much as she didn't want to, she couldn't help it. She still cared for him.

"Bayanne, you go and redress Carl's wound and check his vitals. Rick will help me with this one, I'm sure." Hershel tore Bay out of her haze. She was thankful for the order. She didn't know if she would be able to handle helping patch up Daryl, she was already in tears now and Hershel didn't need to notice that. So with one last look at the men, she disappeared into the guest room to check on Carl and Lori, who was with him.

* * *

Glenn had fetched Hershel's bag for him, and now the veterinarian was cutting the dirty wife beater off of Daryl's body carefully, so they could pull the bolt out. Rick knelt on the bed, leaning Daryl's body against his knees, and holding on to Daryl's side and hip with his hands, so his body wouldn't move while Hershel pulled on the bolt. As soon as Hershel had removed it with two quick, hard pulls, both men applied pressure to both wounds with a clean compress.

"Looks like he didn't hit anything important." Hershel mentioned when he observed the amount of blood that was coming out of the wound, which thankfully wasn't a lot. "I will stitch the back shut first, then we can carefully roll him on his back and then I'll do the front before I assess the rest of his injuries. "That head wound already stopped bleeding, that's good. He might have a concussion, though."

"He looks like he's been through hell. Shouldn't have let him go alone." Rick muttered.

"I don't think there is anything you could have done, Rick. He doesn't look like the type of man who would have you stick a partner on him." Hershel shared his perception of Daryl so far.

"You might be right about that. He says he's better on his own."

"I doubt that. In these times I don't think 'going it alone' is a good option anymore. No matter how skilled you are." Hershel said, and the men quietly talked a bit, while he worked on Daryl.

After Hershel had finished suturing up both, the entry and the exit wound, he straightened and looked down at his patient, letting his gaze roam over the man's torso, seeing if he was able to detect something out of the ordinary.

He did. Hershel stopped short, when his gaze landed on Daryl's chest. He blinked once, thinking that maybe his eyes were deceiving him, but no, it was still there. _Bayanne._ Hershel remembered how Bay had changed since Daryl had arrived, and he remembered the incident from the chicken coop this morning. Now, how many Bayanne's would there be in the state of Georgia, or even within a hundred mile radius? The name wasn't too common. It was clear now, that Bay knew this man, and judging from the tattoo on his chest, she knew him very very well.

"Hershel?" Rick looked at the gray-haired man questioningly, after he had stopped moving. Rick looked down at what Hershel was looking at, and his brows knit in confusion. "Bayanne?" Rick quickly put two and two together. "You know Daryl?"

"No... I don't..." Hershel said slowly.

"But... The name... This Bayanne," he pointed at Daryl's tattoo, "it's your daughter, isn't it? It's written all over your face. And if she knows him..."

Hershel sighed, knowing he would have to tell Rick the truth. "Bay isn't my biological daughter. She came to live with us over ten years ago... I didn't know who this man was... but I think I know now."

"Who is he? Were they together before she came here?" Rick's professional curiosity took over, but Hershel waved him off.

"I think that is for me and my daughter to discuss, Rick, and right now it's none of your business." And with that, Hershel shut down all talk between him and Rick while he went back to checking Daryl for other injuries. When he was done he washed up and slowly descended down the stairs. He walked into the kitchen, where Beth, Maggie and Bay were waiting for news on Daryl's condition. Bay was leaning against the kitchen counter, chewing her thumb nervously, much like Daryl had used to do back in the day. She looked at Hershel rather anxiously, even though she tried to be cool, but it simply didn't work.

"Is he gonna be okay, Daddy?" Beth asked her father, who was staring back at Bay.

"Yes, he is gonna be alright. He needs rest in order to heal. In a couple of days he should be up and running again. Bayanne. A word in my office, please."

Bay's heart fell. In that moment she knew that Hershel knew. She gave a curt nod and followed him, when he walked out of the kitchen and into his office.

"Close the door." he told her as he stopped in front of the window with his hands clasped behind his back. "Sit down."

Bay did as she was told. She didn't know what to expect, except for that she might have to tell him the whole story now, which she dreaded. Hershel was like a father to her, and she never wanted to disappoint him. And disappointed he would be, when he would learn how she had once been a fool for love, and that despite him leaving her, her heart was still beating for that man.

"So Bayanne..." Hershel spoke up again. "Is there anything you would like to tell me?"

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Uh-oh, what will Hershel's reaction to Daryl be once he knows the truth? He sees Bay as his daughter, might get awkward for our favorite redneck.**

**I'm sorry I didn't respond to reviews again this time around, but you know surgery and a lot of organisational stuff is coming up and I spent all my free time writing this chapter for you, so I'd have another update before the premiere. I hope you enjoyed it. **

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	24. Chapter 24

"Well?" Hershel spoke up again when Bay had stayed quiet.

"What do you want me to say?" Bay was lost on where to start.

"I have a theory, but I would like **you** to tell me why that man, that currently occupies your room, is wearing your name on his chest."

Bay's head snapped up at that, her eyes wide as saucers. "He still has that tattoo?" she couldn't have been more surprised.

"I take it you **do **know him."

"Daryl is my ex-boyfriend... from Dalton." Bay officially let the cat out of the bag.

"Why didn't you tell us that when he arrived here?"

"Because I didn't want you to know. I was... I **am** confused. It's all such a mess in my head. I thought he would just quietly go away again. Had the insane hope that he wouldn't recognize me... I hoped I wouldn't have to tell you guys the whole story. I hoped that I wouldn't still care."

"He is the young man who ultimately made you end up with us?"

"He is." Bay confirmed Hershel's assumption. He turned around again and sat down at his desk and started fumbling with a pen.

"I reckon I should thank him for that." he thought out loud, having Bay laugh quietly.

"Believe it or not, I was thinking the same thing. And it angered me even more."

"There's a reason for everything..." Hershel murmured, making Bay shake her head.

"Don't even go there Hershel. Don't get me wrong, I love my life here with you all, but losing what I lost... losing him especially... I don't understand why I had to go through it. He was my life."

"You loved him?"

"You have no idea. It was more than just love. We shared everything. We had the best thing ever. It was friendship and love combined and it was so strong... Right up until the day he left. You know, I always heard girls say, how they were never really sure that their boyfriends loved them? With Daryl, I knew. I knew he loved me. He let me feel it every single moment we were together, even when we were arguing or he was overbearing. It was his way of expressing his feelings. I knew, I never doubted it. Which is why I still can't believe that it happened, that he left me, I mean. Now that he's here, it seems even more surreal. The weird thing is that it doesn't even feel like we've been apart for so long. Half of me feels like nothing happened, while the other part of me wants to slap him and yell at him and hurt him like he hurt me." Bay explained with tears in her eyes.

"He broke your heart. I know that you haven't forgotten about that in the time you've been with us. It was written all over your face every time we tried talking to you about it... How are you feeling? Now that he's here?"

"It's weird. Confusing. I'm part happy and part angry." she repeated herself.

"That's a battle that's going on in your head, Bayanne. I meant your heart. What does it look like in there? Most importantly, can you live with him being here for a little longer? I assume you got in a fight this morning? If you want me to ask him to leave..."

"I don't want you to do that. Honestly, I don't know how I feel. Like I said, it's weird seeing him. Physically he's not the guy I've been with, obviously, but the attraction is still there. And it's still strong... just as strong as it's ever been and I hate it and love it at the same time. I didn't want him here at first, but after seeing him face to face and talking to him... I hope he stays, Hershel. I still like having him around, as stupid as that probably is of me."

"It's not stupid, Bay. You still love that man." Hershel's words hit a sore spot and her tears finally spilled over.

"How is that not utterly stupid, after him leaving me? For his moron of a brother?" Bay cried quietly.

"Tell me what happened. All you ever said was that he left you out of the blue. I am getting the feeling that there is more to this and I would like for you to tell me. Please?"

"It's a long story."

"The way I see it, we have a while since the women from the highway group are taking over dinner duty tonight." Hershel smiled gently. Bay nodded and took a deep breath.

"I've known Daryl forever. Since school. He was two grades ahead of me. We used to run into each other occasionally. After school he was a regular at Willie's store, where I worked. One night, there were two guys, they came on to me. They were disgusting. Daryl caught the end of it. He later told me that he had a bad feeling and he guessed that it subconsciously made him stick around the area. After I locked up, those guys were waiting for me a little ways down the street. They attacked me. They sliced my clothes open, that's how I got the scar..." she explained and her hand immediately went to that scar between her breasts, feeling it for a second, before she started fumbling with her necklace. "They were about to rape me, I screamed, Daryl heard and he came running up and beat the hell out of those guys. That's how it all started. He stuck around at night, in front of my apartment, without me knowing. He stayed out in the cold in his truck to make sure I was alright. One night I finally noticed and I brought him up to my apartment..." Bay told their story from the very beginning. She told Hershel how Daryl had been taking care of her from day 1. How he had helped her when she had hurt her back, how he'd provided her with good food, how he had gradually moved in and they had struck up a deep friendship while their feelings got stronger with every day, until they finally kissed for the first time. She told him about Merle, and about how Merle always predicted they wouldn't last. She told Hershel absolutely everything, right up until their last day together, how everything had been fine until she had come back home after the doctor's appointment. And then she told him about the explanation Daryl had given her just this morning.

Hershel took a moment of silence to let everything sink in, while Bay tried to dry her tears. "Did he now about your money before he saved you?"

"No. Nobody knew. I didn't tell him for some time."

"Which means he fell in love with you without knowing about your money? Do you really believe that he took it?" Hershel questioned her.

"No." Bay replied with a deep sigh. "I think he is telling the truth when he says that it was Merle, but... maybe Daryl knew that Merle was going to do it?"

"Now, I can't claim to know about the inner workings of Daryl, but I don't believe he knew about it. From what you told me and from what I saw, I think he simply made a very wrong decision born from the urge to protect you. His brother helped him make that wrong decision. He convinced him to make it."

"I begged him time and time again not to listen to his brother. He promised, but then he did it anyway and left me alone."

"You're bitter about that, and that is very understandable, Bay. Some things we aren't able to forget or work through, but know this. I've been a young man once. I've known a lot of young men, and I can tell you that permanently putting your girlfriends name on your chest is a very strong commitment. I loved both my wives very much, Bay, but I'm not sure that I would ever have done something like that. It makes me believe that the young man's feelings for you were very real, very genuine and very strong. If it had all been an act, why go to the trouble? Why not get a ring and ask you to marry him, be engaged, leading you to believe he was for real before taking your money? No, he had your name forever imprinted into his skin. And why keep it for all these years if you didn't mean everything to him? By taking your money he would have had the means to have it removed." Bay didn't say anything, she just stared at the floor, letting his words register, so Hershel continued. "And he came back for you, Bay. You just weren't there anymore. And with his friends telling him you died, what was he supposed to do? I'm guessing the police in Dalton never cleared that one up. You didn't have any next of kin left, nobody to notify that you hadn't died."

"I don't know what to do." Bay murmured.

"You need to make a decision. Don't get me wrong, I am not choosing sides here, I am merely offering an opinion from a neutral perspective. From what you tell me it is obvious to me that Daryl truly loved you. He was scared and his brother added to that and used it to his advantage. The decision Daryl made, however wrong it might have been, I believe that he made it with your best interests at heart. People make mistakes. Bad mistakes. Nobody is exempt from that. Not you, not me, not Daryl. That he came back shows that he had realized that he'd been wrong to leave and that he was ready to face the consequences of the bad decision he had made. And in a way, he has faced them. A decade living with his brother thinking that you had died. That sounds like a punishment."

"Yeah? Then why did I get punished, too? I lived a decade without him, too."

"Yes you did. But it also gave you a home you never had, and a family you never had, while Daryl only ever had his brother, who seems to be a master at manipulating him. Yes, you could fault Daryl for that, you could be mad at him for not being stronger, but what good would it do? We live on borrowed time. These days even more than ever before. Time is too short to hold grudges for too long. You two were given the chance of talking this out, to get it out of the way. To get rid of all the pain and hurt I'm sure both of you have been carrying around inside of you all these years. The Lord has given you a gift, Bay, and it's not nice to reject a gift." Hershel gave her a little wink, making her shake her head with a laugh.

"Why do I feel like you are on Daryl's side?"

"I'm not. I am really not picking sides, just offering my opinion. I have no reason to be on his side, I don't know the man. Make a decision Bay. Forgive him or don't forgive him. I think I've given you enough food for thought now, the rest is up to you. Or the two of you."

"Okay. Thank you, Hershel. I'll think about it." Bay got up from her chair and leaned over the desk to kiss Hershel's cheek. "Thanks. I appreciate having your insight on this."

"You're welcome dear." Hershel smiled and briefly squeezed her hand that was resting on his desk while she had leaned over. "One last thing. Rick saw that tattoo as well. He used to be a sheriff, he figured it out in a heartbeat. There will be talk. You might want to inform your sisters about your past with Daryl, before they hear half-truths from that group." Hershel advised her before she was able to leave.

"Yeah, good idea. They already know that something is up. This family is too perceptive if you ask me." Bay mock-lamented.

"We just care about you, and we know you. We notice when something isn't right. That's all."

"Right." Bay nodded before she left the office. She went up to her room and listened outside the door, but because Rick and Shane were still in there, she went back downstairs, where the woman were busy in the kitchen.

"Maggie? Beth? Can we talk for a moment?" she asked the two girls.

Maggie looked at Lori, both of them were cleaning carrots, silently asking if Lori would be okay finishing the task on her own. "Go, we have it handled. It was supposed to be for you anyway." Lori smiled and shooed her out of the kitchen.

"This is great, I've wanted to talk to you, too." Maggie whispered when she, Beth and Bay went back up the stairs into Beth's room. "I had sex with Glenn." Maggie said as soon as the door was closed behind them.

"WHAT?" Bay and Beth asked in unison.

"Wait, what?" Bay shook her head in confusion. "You had sex with Glenn? When in the world did that happen?"

"Earlier, at the pharmacy." Maggie grinned.

"Well,... that's just not safe." Bay deadpanned and dropped down on Beth's bed. Then she looked up at Maggie suspiciously. "Were you safe? Were there condoms in that pharmacy?"

"Yes Mom." Maggie rolled her eyes.

"Do you like him?" Beth asked curiously, having Maggie shrug in reply.

"I don't dislike him. He's cute. He's not bad to be around. He's a little awkward maybe..."

"But the awkward ones are often the sweetest." Beth giggled, and Bay silently agreed with a little nod.

"I know. We'll see what'll come of it. I have to say it would be nice if they stayed around." Maggie said as she leaned back against the door more comfortably. "What did you want to talk about, Bay?"

"Ummm... There's something you should know. Daryl and I... we knew each other before all this." Bay admitted to the girls that had become like sisters to her over the years. In a way, it felt good to come clean and tell them about him.

"I knew it. I knew there was something going on. You two were acting strangely around each other." Maggie grinned.

"How do you know each other?" Beth asked.

"He used to be my boyfriend, before I had the accident."

"Daryl used to be your boyfriend? Okay, I didn't expect that. I thought it might have been his brother. The one with the pills..." Maggie said, making Bay scoff and shudder.

"God no. No, it was Daryl."

"He's the one who left?" Beth wanted to know more.

"Exactly. The one why I left town, had the accident and ended up here. I'm sorry I didn't tell you right away. It was just a very surreal situation to have him here. It still is, and very confusing. I thought I could hate him and be fine with ignoring him until he leaves, but I can't. And since it looks like it might be a bit until they leave, we might as well sort things out. Your father knows and Rick knows, too, they found out, because Daryl has a tattoo of my name, and before you heard about it from anyone else, I wanted to tell you about it first." Bay hoped that she wouldn't have to repeat the whole story to the girls again, but of course they wanted all the details, so for the second time that night, she told the story of how Daryl and her had fallen in love up to how it had ended. Sometime during telling the girls, Bay started to feel better. It felt almost therapeutic to open up to her family and to let it all out. She actually had to laugh when the girls were downright swooning at hearing about Daryl having Bay's name tattooed right above his heart.

"Are you gonna get back together? It's so romantic in a way." Beth was all wide-eyed and eager. This was better than any book she had ever read, because this was actually real and happening in her own house.

"Woah, slow your horses, Miss Greene." Bay was startled by the outright question.

"It's a valid question. He's here now, you still love him and if he still loves you, it would be a possibility. Even if the group moves on. He could stay." Maggie explained and Bay quickly shook her head.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves." She got up and wrung her hands nervously. This was something she wasn't ready to talk about yet. There were other things to be sorted out first. "Anyway, I just wanted you guys to hear it from me."

"Thanks. What are you going to do now?" Maggie was curious what next steps Bay would be taking.

"I don't know. I guess I'm gonna go see him once Rick and Shane are out of the room. Talk to him, see how it goes and go from there."

"Good plan. I hope it goes well." Beth smiled encouragingly and put her rubbed her hand up Bay's arm comfortingly.

"Thanks. I'll see you at dinner." The three women smiled at each other and Maggie moved away from the door so Bay would be able to leave. She closed the door behind her and went to the end of the hall, back to her own room, which used to be the second guest room a long time ago. She listened for a moment and when she didn't hear any voices coming from inside, she slowly opened the door and stepped inside.

Daryl was sleeping and Bay noticed right away how much he looked like he had back then, when his features were relaxed. He seemed so guarded this time around. Sure, he'd always been kind of guarded, but it looked to Bay, like he had stepped it up a notch. She quietly stepped closer to the bed and took a moment to just look at him and take him in. She slowly reached out and let her knuckles slide against his cheek before she gently removed a speck of dirt from his skin with a swipe of her thumb. Even though he looked different, it felt so very familiar, and Bay once again teared up when feelings of tenderness and love rolled through her. They were all right, she did love him. She had never stopped, no matter how hard she had tried at times. She let her fingers linger on his skin for a moment longer, before she brushed the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. Her fingers were dirty now, which made her realize how dirty he was. She quietly left the room again, only to return a couple of minutes later with a big bowl of soapy, warm water, as well as several clean washcloths and towels stacked underneath her arm. He needed to get clean, and she was pretty sure that, even if they weren't on the best of terms he would still be more okay if she did it, than any of the other people around.

She put the bowl on the empty nightstand to his left and put the washcloths and towels next to him on the bed. She carefully tugged the blanket down to his waist, knowing that he was topless, but still unprepared for it. Her breath hitched when she saw the tattoo. It really was still there. She had been tempted to doubt Hershel's words, but here it was, proof that she had at one point meant something to him. She almost had to giggle when she let her eyes roam the rest of his torso. This was truly no longer the Daryl she had known. This was a real, grown man, and he was freaking magnificent, she had to admit. She shook herself out of it quickly and sat down at the edge of the bed, carefully placing a towel under his arm, before she dipped a washcloth into the water and gently started wiping the dirt and grime off his skin. It didn't take long for Daryl to stir, and when she had reached his hand, she heard his raspy and confused voice. "Bay...? Whatchu doin'?"

"I've never let you get in my bed dirty from work before, so why would I start now?" she replied calmly as she looked up at his frowning face.

"Your bed?" he needed a moment to connect the dots, but he soon realized where exactly they had put him. "This your room?"

"That's right."

"Bet ya hate that they put me here." he looked at her carefully while she slowly cleaned his fingers.

"I told them to put you in here."

"Really?" he was more than a little surprised. And curious. "Why?"

"Because I wanted you to be comfortable." she shrugged, like it wasn't a big deal, but to Daryl her reply meant a lot.

"There ain't nails in the mattress, right?" he tried to make light of the situation a little. He didn't know how to act. She was being sweet and nice to him after being stand-offish in the morning. She had his hand in her lap and was giving him a sponge bath, it was a good sign, but he wasn't quite sure what to make of it.

"Stop." she admonished him quietly. "I'm not a monster either."

"I know." he nodded slightly, wincing a little when it made his head pound a bit more again. He watched her as she let the washcloth glide up his arm, over his shoulder and down to his chest, wiping the dirt off of the tattoo.

"You kept it."

"Course I did." he said without hesitation. "Wasn't gonna live completely without ya."

"But you made me live completely without you." she stated with a sad, wavering voice. She hated it, but a fresh batch of tears stung her eyes.

"I know. There ain't enough words in the world to tell ya how sorry I am, Bay. Regretted it every day. Paid for it every day. I thought I was doing the best thing for you. I was a mess. I wasn't thinking clearly for weeks, but once I got out of that, I came back for you. Was too late, though. I wanted to take you with us, but Merle... he just kept talking and talking, kept slammin' me against the truck, sayin' we had to go... I should'a ignored him, should'a come to you instead. We could have figured it out together."

"Yeah... especially since there was no danger. We would have realized that as soon as we would have found out that my money was missing."

"You believe me? That I didn't take it?"

"Yes. I believe you. It was Merle, doing what he does best, putting himself first." Daryl felt a heavy weight being lifted from his shoulders, when she told him that she believed him. That she had thought that it had been him to take her future away from her had really hurt.

They fell silent for a moment and Bay wrung out the washcloth and kept cleaning him. Daryl reveled in every little touch he was getting from her. Warmth he hadn't felt in ages slowly crept back into his body. She probably didn't feel the same way, but having her wash him like this felt very intimate to him. Almost exactly like it had felt when they had taken baths together. Tucked away in their bathtub with the door closed and the room dimly lit with candlelight, hiding from the rest of the world inside their little bubble. This was very similar. They were alone in her room, he was in her bed and only a small lamp had been turned on. The little touches and the swipes of the warm washcloth on his skin felt almost healing. They were healing the gaping holes in his soul and his heart, which had been caused by losing and missing her. She was really really here, and she was slowly putting him back together, very probably without even meaning to do it. She'd always had that effect on him. It was comforting to know that a lot of things seemingly hadn't changed.

"What happened to you?" he asked after a little eternity of silence. "Why did they tell me you died?"

"Because it might have looked like I did. After a couple of weeks of you leaving, I wasn't able to stand staying there anymore. Too many painful memories. My parents, my grandma, then you... I needed to get out of there. I walked. Yeah, too cheap to pay for a bus ticket." Bay laughed about herself, making Daryl scoff out a small laugh, too. "I got to Murray Bridge..." she stopped again before she said too much, and took a moment to think of how to proceed. "It was dark... I had an accident. I got hit by a car. The driver didn't see me, not really his fault... I don't remember much about it. Pretty much nobody had cell phones back then, as you know and there were no pay phones close by, so the driver put me in the back seat and took me to the hospital. Not in Dalton obviously, since he was also on his way out of town... he said he had been passing through,... anyway, he took me to the hospital in Calhoun. I was in a coma for about two weeks. I had no ID on me, so nobody knew who I was. I didn't have my bag-"

"Pat said that police found your bag on the bridge. Guess they fucking **assumed** ya jumped." Daryl said with distaste in his voice. Talk about shoddy police work there.

"Yeah, looks like. I guess nobody thought of notifying our friends that I wasn't dead." Bay shrugged. "At the hospital, there was this woman. A volunteer. She brought flowers to patients with no family. She read to coma patients, things like that. It was Hershel's wife Annette. After I woke up, we talked a lot. We became friends. I told her a lot about my life in Dalton and about how I had no one left there. She soon started bringing her daughters every other day. I didn't know that it was kind of a test. She wanted to know if we got along. After a couple of weeks, Hershel came with her. We all talked a lot and really got to know each other while I had to stay there. When it was time for me to be discharged, they offered me to come live with them until I was back on my own two feet. They became family quickly. Hershel took me under his wing, trained me... well, and the rest is history."

"Thought ya were afraid of doctors? Now ya became one yourself?" he smirked and teased her a little.

"You know how it is... If you're afraid to fly, become a pilot... afraid of medical professionals? Become one yourself." she laughed quietly. "But it's not really like that. I'm not a doctor or anything. I just assist and do minor stuff." Bay explained and gently dried off his now clean torso. Well, as clean as a wet washcloth would get him. A real bath or shower would be more effective and get the rest of the dirt off of him. She removed the towels and tossed the dirty washcloth in the water bowl, before pulled the blanket back up so he wouldn't get cold. "There you go. You should still take a shower when you feel up to it. Maybe tomorrow."

"How badly were ya injured?" he figured it hadn't been pretty if she had been in a coma for two weeks.

"Some broken bones. Hit my head pretty hard, had some brain swelling. It's all good now, though."

"Good." he nodded and started chewing his lip when a bit of an awkward silence descended upon them. "What now?" he finally asked. He still didn't know where they stood and if this whole thing with her wanting him in her room and washing him meant, that she had forgiven him.

"I don't know, Daryl. You guys are gonna leave again..."

"Ya still happy about that?"

"No." she replied truthfully. It made Daryl's heart soar and he fought a smile. He wanted to ask her outright if she would be able to forgive him for leaving, he wanted to ask if he had another shot with her, but he didn't possess the courage to ask those questions. Mostly because he knew he wouldn't be able to handle a negative response. Not today when he'd been through hell and back. "Well, I should get this back to the bathroom." she stood up and picked up the water bowl.

"Gonna be back?" he asked with a hint of hopefulness in his voice and his expression.

"Later... maybe." By now she was sure she wouldn't be able to stay away. She wanted to make sure that he was gonna be okay with his concussion, and wake him up a couple of times throughout the night.

She left the room and took the bowl back to the bathroom and cleaned it out. "Bay, dinner's ready!" she heard Beth call out for her.

"I'll be down in a minute." she replied and finished up. When she left the bathroom she noticed that the door to her room was still open. _Thought I had closed it, _she thought with a frown and went back over there to close it. When she reached the open doorway she saw Carol leaning over Daryl and kissing his forehead. She froze and stared wide eyed as her fists clenched involuntary. She didn't like that view one bit. Carol straightened and noticed Bay standing in the doorway.

"Oh hey. Dinner's ready." she told Bay, as Daryl also looked over at his ex-lover.

"I heard." Bay replied coldly before she looked at Daryl. "Any idea what happened to my horse?"

"That was yours?" Daryl had to try hard not to smirk, because he knew the expression on Bay's face. It was jealousy. "Dunno. Prolly left the country by now." he replied nonchalantly with a shrug, infuriating Bay even more.

"Awesome." she grumbled and slammed the door behind her so hard, that the picture frames in the room banged against the walls. Carol jumped in shock, but Daryl had a little smile on his face. Bay was jealous.

_Yeah... awesome, _he thought with a little smile.

* * *

Carol had left him alone soon after Bay had left. Daryl had sat up to eat, and when he'd finished, he carefully put the tray on the nightstand. Now he had the opportunity to take in the room some more. He should have known that it was Bay's. It practically screamed her name. It was warm and cozy, just like their apartment had been. The décor was mostly black, white and dark teal, with lots of pillows, candles, pictures and little trinkets. She loved those colors and she loved her candles and pillows. It was comforting to be in her space, even more comforting to know that she willingly let him in there. His shifted his gaze to the side, her nightstand drawer beckoning him to open it. He strained his ears for any sound coming from the hall, before he slowly opened the drawer. He was disappointed when he didn't spy anything interesting. He thought maybe she would have a toy in there he would be able to tease her about some day in the future if they'd be able to patch things up. But there was only hand lotion, a book, chapstick, chocolate and a mp3-player and a cell phone. Probably no longer working. He closed the drawer and scooted back down in order to lay down. He rolled onto his good side and snuggled his face into the pillow. He couldn't believe he was in her bed again. Funny how fate worked, he thought with a little smile, before he inhaled, smelling what she smelled when she laid down at night. He closed his eyes and let his mind fill with memories of how they had shared their previous bed and the fun times they'd had in it.

He dozed off for a while, waking up again when Bay entered the room and went to her closet wordlessly. Daryl blinked his eyes open lazily and watched her. When she turned back around he spoke up. "Think ya can help me with washing ma hair tomorrow?"

"Better ask your girlfriend. Don't wanna overstep any more boundaries."

"Stop. Ain't like that."

"Sure looked like it."

"She was just thankin' me. Cause I keep looking for her kid."

"Shane and Andrea check the highway every day. I don't see her kissing them." Bay said a little saucily.

"Why ya mad at me? I ain't kissed her."

"I'm not mad."

"If ya say so..."

"How's the head?" Bay changed the topic, already cursing herself for getting emotional over that stupid little kiss. Daryl wasn't hers anymore. She had no right to get jealous.

"Killing me." he mumbled as he burrowed his head deeper into the pillow again. Bay immediately calmed back down. She really couldn't stand to know he was hurting.

"We're going to turn off the lights in a minute. I'll just have to change. Did you take your pain killers?"

"Yeah. You're gonna stay the night?"

"Mhm." she nodded. "I'm gonna stay in the armchair. I'm gonna wake you up a little every couple of hours, because of the concussion." She took a couple of steps closer and put her and across his eyes. "Close 'em. I'm gonna change and then I'll kill the lights." She felt his lashes flutter against her palm as he did as he was told, then she walked around the bed, so he had his back to her, before she took off her boots, black tank top and jeans, and changed into black and white plaid pajama pants and a white loose t-shirt. She grabbed a spare blanket from the closet and then turned off the light before she curled up in her armchair in the dark.

She didn't have an alarm, but she didn't need one. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep anyway. She had some things to think about and a decision to make. Although it felt like it had already been made.

"Bay?" she suddenly heard his deep voice call out softly.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you if ya let me. I promise. Can we start bein' friends again?"

She stayed quiet for a moment, pondering his words. When she gave her answer, she was able to practically feel him smiling. "I can't promise anything, Daryl. But we can try."

"That's all I'm asking." he said with a sleepy, but happy voice.

* * *

Daryl fell asleep pretty soon after that. Bay shook him awake a little in what felt like regular intervals. When he woke up the next morning he felt sore as fuck, but he also felt a bit better than the day before. He heard noises next to him, before he opened his eyes. He remembered that Bay had stayed with him and it had him smiling first thing in the morning.

"Hey..." he greeted her.

"Good morning, young man." The farmer's voice startled him and Daryl's eyes quickly snapped open.

"Mornin'..." he said, eying the other man warily.

"I relieved Bay of watch duty an hour ago. She's catching up on some sleep now." Hershel explained, knowing that Daryl had expected to wake up to Bay's presence. That had been the plan, but Hershel had wanted to have a word with Daryl, before the man would be able to flee the house. "Feeling better?"

"Yeah." Daryl nodded and slowly sat up.

"Good. Breakfast won't be ready for another half hour. I think it would be a good opportunity for us to talk for a little bit."

_Shit! _Daryl was so not in the mood for that. He never had to deal with any talks from Daddy, and he thought it was already too late for that shit. Bay and him had already dated, there was no need to question him about his intentions, but unfortunately for him, that was exactly what Hershel had in mind. "So,... Daryl... I understand you and Bayanne have some history."

"Yes, Sir."

"Do you also have a history of yelling at her, like you did yesterday morning?" Hershel put on his stern face.

"No, Sir." Daryl shook his head, before he elaborated. "Wasn't yellin' at her... Just realized something about my brother."

"Merle..." Hershel nodded.

"She tell you 'bout him?"

"She told me everything, Daryl. All about you, all about your brother, all about what happened. You know, Bay is my daughter now. I love her like she is my own. I think you can relate to that feeling. Of course your love was of the romantic sort, while mine is the paternal kind, but you get where I am coming from."

"Ain't gon' hurt her again, if that's what you're worried about."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about. I keep wondering... what's the plan now, Daryl?"

"We wanna try being friends again." Daryl had never felt this intimidated by somebody. He was crazy nervous in that moment. What if the farmer didn't approve of him? That would sure throw a wrench in things.

"Just friends?" Hershel questioned, trying to keep a straight face. He was literally able to see Daryl squirm and he enjoyed it very much. Daryl just shrugged in response as he looked down at his lap like the blanket that was covering him was the most interesting thing he'd seen in years. "You are hoping for more... You want to go back to what you had, don't you Daryl?"

Daryl was chewing his bottom lip raw as he cast a quick sideway glance at Hershel. Of course it was what he wanted, but he had a hard time expressing that to a complete stranger. He'd never been good with this kind of stuff. He'd been able to be open with Bay, sometimes Pat, but other than that? No, he liked not talking about these things. "She's my girl." He mumbled rather awkwardly, and this time Hershel wasn't able to keep himself from chuckling a little.

"Not right now, she isn't, Daryl. How is this supposed to work anyway? You can't give her hope and then leave again."

"She could come with me this time."

"Bayanne isn't going anywhere, Daryl." Hershel said completely serious. "This is her home now. She is safe here." The old man took a deep breath and leaned back in the armchair. "Look Daryl, I understand what it means to be in love with somebody. I can tell that those feelings still exist on both sides, but it doesn't mean that Bay will be able to let herself get into another relationship with you. I know that you probably don't ever want to let her go again, even if she only wants to be friends with you. You have to think about what's more important to you. The group and traveling to Fort Benning... or Bayanne. I want her to be happy. If being with you will make her happy, then so be it, but it won't be out there. She will stay here on this farm, and if you don't want to stay, too, when the time comes, then you shouldn't try to get back together with her. Both of you would only end up hurt and heartbroken again. Think about that Daryl."

"Don't need to think 'bout it." Daryl mumbled around still chewing on his lip. "Imma put her first this time."

"Good. Now let's take a look at those wounds." Hershel got up from the armchair and Daryl released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding.

_Thank God. Hope that damn interrogation's over forever. This ain't fun. The things I do for ya, baby girl._ Daryl was about to remove the sheets from his bare torso, when he suddenly remembered what Hershel had said. "Did ya say she still loves me, too?"

"I don't know... Did I?" Hershel smirked.

_Fuck. Now I ain't sure if he really did... _Daryl thought as his ever-present scowl slipped back onto his face.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**I feel like I should say, that they are going to interact with other characters in the very near future, lol. It's not JUST about them, but right now they have a lot to figure out between themselves.**

**So, how awesome was the premiere? I have no words. It was fantastic. Daryl's development is the best piece of storytelling on television, if you ask me.**

**Thank you very, very much for all the love, support and reviews. I hope I sent everybody a PM to thank you for the kind words.**

**Thanks also to all my lovely guest reviewers, who I can't reply to in person. I appreciate the time you take to leave me your feedback. It's fun to see how people react to this. Thank you so very very much.**

**Surgery tomorrow morning. Wish us luck. **


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

Bay didn't sleep for very long. She had never been able to sleep during the day when others were awake and making noise around the house. She washed up, got dressed and went to the kitchen to fix herself some coffee. _Thank God for that little luxury._ She enjoyed every cup like it might be the last, because these days, it might be the last. They were running out of that instant crap. It didn't really taste all that good, but it was still better than no coffee at all. The kitchen was empty and Bay was glad that she would have another couple of moments to herself. She leaned her hip against the kitchen counter and looked out the window while she enjoyed her hot brew. Immediately, images of Daryl started appearing inside her head, as well as his words from the last couple of days. She did believe him now. She knew he hadn't taken the money after all. But what did it matter, really? If he was going to leave again soon, she would end up sad about him yet again. The only good thing would be, that she wouldn't still be angry at him for taking her cash... But he would leave her again, wouldn't he? He'd come back into her life, making her feelings flare up full-force again, only to leave once more. She didn't know what to think about that. Well, actually she did. She hated the thought. She would have loved to crawl into his arms last night, but there were still so many uncertainties between them, that she firmly kept herself from doing it. She needed answers, but she had no idea if he would be able to give them at this point. She couldn't get too close to him physically and emotionally if he was going to go with the group. It would be a challenge to keep herself from getting too close, because it was already happening. She wanted it, too, but she was also really scared of getting hurt again. She didn't even know if she would be able to ever fully forgive him for the first time he left. _So many damn things to think and worry about._

For now she decided to think about their guests/patients. She rinsed her mug in the sink and left for the guest room the Grimes family spent most their time in.

"Hey!" she gave Lori and Carl a big smile when she entered the room after knocking.

"Hi Bay." Lori smiled back at her. "Sleep well?"

"I did, just not enough." Bay laughed. "How about you, cowboy? Feeling okay?"

"Yeah. Hershel said I can try to walk around tomorrow. Think if it goes well I can go help look for Sophia?" Carl asked her with a hopeful expression on his face.

"I'm afraid that will take another couple of days, Carl. The heat is really bad these days. You need to rest some more, eat well and drink lots of fluid before you can go stomping around in the woods." Bay smiled gently at him, trying to let him down easy. "Hey speaking of eating. You guys hungry?"

"Carl's a young boy. He's always hungry." Lori grinned and squeezed her son's arm affectionately.

"Men. You should have seen Daryl. If it would have been up to him, I would have cooked five whole, big meals a day, but he was skinny as a rail." Bay said without thinking, a wistful smile on her lips.

"So it's true?" Lori looked at her curiously. Rick, of course, had told Lori about the tattoo on Daryl's chest.

"Is what true?" Bay hadn't realized yet, that she had talked about Daryl.

"You and Daryl? You were together before all this?"

"Woah! Daryl was your boyfriend?" Carl asked incredulously. "But you're so nice..." he said, like it was the most logical thing to say in the world.

Bay mentally slapped herself, when she noticed what she had said. Looked like now that he was back in her life, he was slipping into her mind without her even noticing. "Um, yeah. He was. A long time ago. 'Barely out of high school-sweethearts' you could say." Bay laughed with a shake of her head. "Well, on my part. Daryl was two grades ahead of me, so for him it's been longer."

"Oh, so it was more like casual dating?" Lori assumed when Bay told her that they had still been pretty young.

"No. We were serious. We lived together." Bay said, before she changed the topic. "How about that food? You guys want an omelet?"

"I love omelets! Yes!" Carl was excited about food. Ever since he'd been able to eat after the surgery, he had been happy about getting food that didn't come straight from a can.

"Great, what do you want in it? Tomatoes? Shallots? Bell Peppers? Garlic?"

"Can I have all of it?"

"Carl..." Lori admonished him, but Bay waved her off.

"No, that's alright. We have a lot of veggies from the garden, and he needs to eat. Sure you can have all. What would you like Lori?"

"Oh, umm... just tomatoes and shallots. Thank you, Bay."

"No need to thank me. You guys are very welcome." Bay left the room and went to work in the kitchen. She made the veggie omelets for Lori and Carl and brought them into their room, then she grabbed a wicker basket and put in more vegetables and eggs, and also some fresh fruit, to bring over to the group, so they could make their own lunch. Bay felt a twinge in her stomach when she saw Carol, who accepted the basket from her with a grateful smile, but she forced a smile in return. The woman hadn't done anything to hurt her, so she didn't deserve a cold shoulder from Bay. It wasn't easy though, because her jealousy where Daryl was concerned, had always been extremely strong. _Some things never change._

"Bay!"

Bay turned around to face Shane, who had downright bellowed her name. He seemed to have lost all of his nervousness and Bay kind of lamented that loss. She hated the way he was leaning against the tree with his shirt hanging open. It seemed cocky, like he was thinking he was God's gift to women. "Yes, Shane?"

"Can I ask you somethin'?" he asked, but didn't wait for her to give her consent. "Is the rumor true? Dixon's wearing your name on his chest?" His question made everybody else freeze in their tracks. Apparently Rick hadn't yet blabbed to everyone about it. Dale, Carol, Andrea, Glenn, T-Dog and Shane, they all turned their curious gaze to Bay.

_Here we go again._ "Yes." she stated simply.

"Oooohhh,... now it makes sense." The penny dropped for Glenn. That's why Bay had been so weird about the pill bottle. If she knew Daryl, then she knew Merle.

"Does that mean that you and Daryl were a couple?" Andrea asked with a surprised laugh.

"Yep." Bay nodded and stuffed her hands in her pockets.

"Wow, when was that?" Andrea kept asking.

"Over ten years ago."

"You guys must have been serious about each other if he had your name tattooed on his body." Andrea couldn't get enough, while the others listened curiously. Carol stayed quiet. She remembered how Bay had slammed the door the other night and she now realized that the other woman hadn't been mad about Daryl losing her horse.

"Yes. We were."

"How did that happen? I mean, how did you get together? You're both so different. You seem so sweet." Andrea smiled.

_Okay why do people keep saying that? _Bay wondered. "We are actually pretty similar. At least we used to be."

"No way. I don't see you running around yelling at people." T-Dog shook his head and laughed.

"You would be surprised. I got into a fist fight once and won." Bay was still thinking fondly about how she had put that stupid Cassie in her place.

"Okay, maybe I was wrong. Looks like you do share some traits with Daryl."

"What was he like? Has he always been this angry?" Andrea spoke up again.

"Angry? No, can't say that he was. He was sweet. A very good boyfriend and provider." Bay replied truthfully. "Why? He's been angry?"

"Angry would probably be putting it mildly." Glenn said with a shrug. "Lots of snarling,... lots of yelling."

"Very abrasive." Andrea nodded. "But I have to admit, since Merle has been gone, he's been changing. I actually had a nice conversation with him when I went with him to look for Sophia."

"What happened with Merle? You said he got lost?" Bay was curious what had happened to the heartless bastard.

"Some of us were in Atlanta on a supply run. We were on a roof, hiding out, waiting for Glenn and Rick to return. He kept making too much noise, kept shooting at the walkers. When Rick and Glenn came back, Merle and Rick got into it. Rick cuffed him to a pipe on the roof." T-Dog told the story of how Merle had ended up alone. "He gave me the key, they left us alone and went to get the cars. There was so much chaos that day... when it was time to go, I tripped and the key fell down a drain... I left, but I chained the door shut, so the walkers wouldn't get to him. We went back for him a day later, but all we found was his hand. He sawed it off and left. Haven't seen him since."

"Good." Bay nodded with satisfaction, surprising everyone around.

"Good?" Carol asked her, not sure if she had heard right.

"Yes. Good." Bay said it again. "Let's just say that Merle and I have history. And I guess he got what he deserved."

"We're on the same page on that one" Shane grinned at her, making her skin crawl.

"Anyway,... I'll bring you some fresh milk later." Bay said and left without another word.

"She scares me." Glenn deadpanned, making the men and Andrea laugh.

"Don't be silly." Dale chuckled. "She seems like a nice girl."

"She dated Daryl, and he's scary."

"Looks like he wasn't always like that." Andrea laughed. "And I agree. She seems nice and very generous. I think 'having history' with Merle Dixon might make everyone have murderous thoughts where he's concerned."

"True dat." T-dog agreed wholeheartedly.

* * *

When she was back in the house Bay fixed lunch for the rest of the family. When they had eaten, she also fixed a plate for Daryl and put it on a tray with a glass of sweet tea and took it upstairs to her room.

"Hey." she greeted him with a little smile.

"Hey." his eyes lit up when it was finally her who was showing her face in here. Hershel had been in, Rick had been in, Carol had been in, Beth had been in,... it had been fucking annoying. All he'd wanted in the room had been Bay and she had let him wait.

"Hungry?"

"Yeah."

"How are you feeling?" she asked while she put the tray over his lap.

"Sore. But better." he replied as he forewent using his fork and his knife and started eating his omelet with his fingers.

"Gonna take that shower today?"

"Yeah. Guess so." he replied with his mouth full.

"You wanna wash your hair first or after?"

"First. Gonna help me with the shower, too?" he asked, making her freeze for a second.

"Very funny."

"I ain't kiddin'. Can't get my back. Can't see where the bandage is back there. Can't reach..." Daryl shrugged nonchalantly. He didn't care much about getting clean, but if she kept bringing it up, the least she could do was help him.

"Once again. Very funny." Bay shook her head with a laugh. He couldn't be serious. Then again, she almost wished he was. Now that he had put that idea in her head, she involuntarily began picturing what he would look like completely naked these days. She already felt her fingertips itching to touch bare skin. _Dammit, you tempting bastard._

"Bay..."

"Why don't you ask Carol? I'm sure she'd be very happy to 'scratch your back'."

"Really? That again?"

"Just a suggestion." It was Bay's turn to shrug.

"Yeah well, screw that. Don't wanna be naked in front of her."

"Oh, so you're gonna be naked?"

"What kinda question is that?"

"You could wear underwear. At least until I leave the room and let you do the rest by yourself."

"Ain't like ya ain't seen it before."

"In a way, I haven't."

"Whaddaya think, that it grew a horn or somethin'?" he asked exasperated. "Still just a dick. Nothing's changed about that."

_It is a nice dick. _Bay thought back to how she had loved to play around with it, making goosebumps break out on her skin, when she heard him moan inside her head. _Good God, woman. Get a grip. 3 days ago you wanted to kill him and now you want to go right back to jumping his bones? Who are you? Ugh, but the 'bone-jumping' was always __**So. Damn. Good.**_

"You're thinking about it." Daryl smirked.

"Oh stop it, you perv." Bay grumbled and swatted at him.

"I ain't the one thinking bout my dick." he teased her with a little, satisfied smile.

"I will not throttle an injured man. I will not throttle an injured man." Bay chanted quietly, but it was playful. They were starting to rebuild their friendship and were gently teasing each other. It felt good to both of them. It was comfortable and it was what they knew. Something familiar and warm in this strange new world.

She startled a little, when she felt his fingertips brush the back of her hand. She looked down, and her breath hitched when she watched him take her small hand into his much bigger one. Little shocks shot up her arm and straight to her heart as he gently squeezed. "Thanks for lunch." he murmured quietly and sounded a bit out of breath himself.

"...welcome..." Bay stammered almost inaudibly.

"What happened there?" He tugged on her hand and made her scoot higher up on the edge of the bed, closer to him, until he was able to see her forearm up-close. He studied her scar for a moment, before he looked up into her beautiful, large, hazel eyes.

"Accident." she said under her breath. His startingly blue eyes were as distracting as ever. "I have a couple of screws in there, holding everything together."

His expression turned into a concerned scowl. Her words and the picture she was painting with them pained him. The accident must have been much worse than she had previously let on. "That's my fault." he stated somberly.

"No it isn't. Not everything is your fault, Daryl. Shouldn't cross a bridge on foot, which isn't meant to be crossed on foot. Especially not in the dark. It was my own stupidity that did this."

"Does it hurt?"

"Sometimes, when the weather changes. I have a bit of chronic pain during winter,... but only when it gets really cold outside, which thankfully isn't too often. So chronic might not be the right word..." she explained with a nervous laugh, his intense gaze was really distracting.

Daryl slowly pulled her arm up to his mouth and gently pressed his lips against her scar, like he would be able to kiss the pain away. Tears stung his eyes at the sensation of having his lips against her skin again, and Bay wasn't faring much better. "I miss you." he whispered against her skin, not trusting his voice not to break if he spoke up louder. There they were, up close and looking into each others misty eyes with his lips against her arm. Bay's heart seized up for a moment, before it started hammering inside her chest, and she knew, that she was a lost cause. She would always love him. She would never **not** be able to love him. It was scary to think that he might hurt her again, but that she would still be powerless against the love she felt for him. She had tried hating him for 11 years and it had never really worked. She had been able to feel hate for him at some point, but it had never lasted very long, because the memories of how he had loved her had always been stronger, even though she hadn't been able to be sure if he had been honest about that or not. The feelings she'd had for him, and what she had felt coming from him while they had been together, had felt real to her. She wasn't even sure if that made sense or not and right now, she didn't even want to analyze all that anymore. He was here now, that's what they would have to figure out... the present.

"I miss you, too Daryl. So much..." she whispered right back as a tear rolled down her cheek. He was about to lean in and kiss it away, when her words stopped him. "But we can't do this."

"Why not?"

"You'll be leaving soon."

"What if I ain't?" he asked and watched her eyes widen in surprise.

"Don't even joke about that, Daryl Dixon."

"I barely know those people out there. They ain't family. You are. I'll help them find the little girl, but after that... I wanna stay. Ain't never gonna leave ya behind no more, Bay." It was a promise, and Bay wished she would be able to have blind faith in him like she had used to, but he had burned her before.

"I'll get you more water." She pulled her arm out of his grasp and wiped the tears from her eyes as she got up from the bed.

"Bay..."

"I need a break. Please." She took a deep breath. "Being around you again is intense. Talking about all this,... I need to think, and when I'm around you I'm just never able to think clearly." She took his dirty dishes and left the room. She was startled to find Rick in the kitchen.

He smiled when he noticed her jumping slightly in shock. "I'm sorry. Just brought in Lori's and Carl's plates."

"Oh thank you. You shouldn't have. I could have gotten them."

"Bay, you are kind enough to share your space and your supplies with us, you don't have to wait on us hand and foot. And don't let Carl bribe you." They shared a laugh, although Bay's was still a little shaky. Rick studied her for a moment and leaned against the counter when she filled the sink with water. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I am." Bay smiled. "Just a lot happening these days..."

"Daryl?"

"Mhm..." Bay nodded with a little grunt.

"Lori said you were together years ago?"

"We were. 11 years ago."

"And you haven't seen each other since then?"

"No."

"Bad blood?" Rick pressed her gently for details. Professional curiosity.

"It's really complicated. Daryl and I are still figuring it out ourselves."

"Sounds complicated." he smiled sympathetically.

"It is. He thought I was dead and I thought he was a deceiving, heartless thief... now we both had to realize that neither of those things were true." What she had refused to tell the others had now suddenly bubbled out of her. Either she just had a moment of weakness or Rick had been really good at his job.

"He thought you were dead? And then he saw you here on the farm? Alive?" Rick's eyes widened. That had to have been a huge shock for the redneck.

"Yep. I think for a moment he thought he was going mental." Bay couldn't help but laugh when she remembered Daryl's incredulous looks.

"Who wouldn't?" Rick smiled. "He probably looked the way me and my family looked when we were reunited. They thought I was dead, too. And I thought that they hadn't made it, either."

"Really?" Bay looked at him with curiosity. "Did you get separated during the outbreak?"

"I got shot in the line of duty some time before the outbreak. I was in a coma. I woke up less than a month ago, believe it or not." Rick grinned when Bay's eyebrows shot up. "Yeah, I'm not kidding. I woke up in that hospital, and I thought I was caught in the worst nightmare ever. I left my room, went down the hallway. There was this door, and on it were the words 'Don't open, dead inside'. Imagine my shock, when one of those dead stuck his hand through the gap between those two swinging doors."

"Holy crap!" Bay was speechless and stared at Rick with wide eyes, completely riveted as he told her his story of how he met a man named Morgan and his son, how he rode into Atlanta on a horse, straight into a herd, and how Glenn saved his ass, before he went back to their camp at a quarry, where he reunited with Carl and Lori. "That's a miracle, Rick."

"It was. Looks like they still exist. You got your own now, with Daryl finding you."

"Actually, it was **you **who found me... in a way... or Carl? Otis who found you? Who knows..."

"Tell me, just so I know what I got myself into... Is Daryl gonna thank me for 'finding you' or is he gonna throw squirrels at me again?" Rick asked seriously, but wasn't able to hide a little smirk.

"He threw squirrels at you?" Bay laughed out loud. "What in the world for?"

"Cuffed his brother to a roof... Did he tell you about that?"

"No, but the others did. I want to thank you for that."

"Thank me?" Rick looked at her in surprise.

"Through you, Merle Dixon finally got what he deserved. I don't ever say things like that, and may God forgive me, but I hope that Merle rots in hell."

"Did he have anything to do with you and Daryl not working out?" Rick took a stab in the dark.

"He had everything to do with it." Bay grumbled and violently scrubbed a plate clean. "You could say he single-handedly tore us apart... Ha,... single-handedly... guess that fits just right..." she smirked wryly.

"What happened between you and Daryl? Why did he think you were dead?"

"No offense Rick, I just told my family after 11 years... It's a long story... "

"I told you mine." he smiled when she rolled her eyes.

"Fine. Long story short, Daryl and I were in love. Very, very much in love. We lived together for about 7 months, I think. We had the best relationship two people could possibly ever have, and yes, I know, I was only 18, but it was the real deal. I worked two jobs and was saving up to go to college. My whole family had died the year before and my college fund was gone. I hid the money in my apartment. Then Merle came along. Kept telling Daryl that our relationship is crap, that I don't care about him, yada yada yada... I begged Daryl several times not to listen to him. A couple of months later Merle got in trouble with some drug mafia people. He stole from them, so they cut off his finger and told him to pay them back. So what does Merle do? He breaks into my apartment, takes all of Daryl's stuff, takes my money, making it look like Daryl had taken it, goes to Daryl's place of work and convinces him that he has to leave town with him in order to protect me. Daryl, of course, once again believes him and they leave town without a word. A couple of months later Daryl returns to Dalton, looking for me, but our former friends tell him that I had committed suicide by jumping off a bridge. Police found my bag on that bridge and I guess they just thought I had jumped, because both my parents had killed themselves. In reality, I had an accident on that bridge and the driver that hit me took me to Calhoun where I was in a coma for two weeks. Woke up, befriended the Greenes and came to live with them. That's my story. Or our story."

"Wow... so... you could say that you and Daryl still have unfinished business?"

"In a nutshell, yes." Bay sighed deeply. "The feelings are still there, so we are trying to rebuild our friendship... but... how is that supposed to work out. You won't stay for that much longer."

"You are welcome to join us, Bay." Rick pressed out after having swallowed hard. He had no plans to leave the farm. This was exactly what the group and his family needed. A safe haven. _Looks like I have to talk to Hershel. Convince him to let us stay._

"I'm not crazy enough to leave this farm." Bay scoffed. "I might be crazy about Daryl, but this is a safe place. I'm not going to give that up. Not even for him. If he wants to be around me, he will have to stay."

Rick swallowed again. Daryl might not be the easiest person to be around, but he was a valuable asset. Losing him, along with the safety of the farm... that was not an option for Rick. He would have to work on something to figure this out. He cleared his throat. "Do you want to participate in gun practice?"

"No. Daryl taught me years ago. I'm good." she smiled.

"Alright. I need to find Shane. I'll see you later. Thanks for the food."

"You're welcome." she reassured him. Rick gave her another nod, before he left the kitchen and then the house, with a whole lot of new information to think about.

* * *

"I don't think I've ever washed your hair before... have I?" Bay was gently massaging his scalp with her skilled fingers, while Daryl had to bite his tongue in order to keep himself from moaning at how good it felt.

"Nah... Not the hair up there." he muttered to himself, but Bay had heard him.

"Daryl!"

"Wha'? You asked!" he lamented at being scolded.

"Whatever." She carefully rinsed his hair, making extra sure not to wet the stitches close to his temple.

"You make up your mind 'bout the shower?"

"Yeah." Bay's voice was serious, but she was grinning, which he wasn't able to see. "Hershel's gonna jump in with you and help you out. Had me find his old Speedo, just for this occasion."

"What the hell, girl? Ain't gon' get naked with yer damn substitute Daddy." He tried to sit up to while he started shouting, but Bay erupted into giggles and gently pushed him back so he'd keep his head tilted back over the sink.

"Relax, I was kidding. I'll help you." she replied with a hint of nervousness in her voice. That might get very weird and awkward, but the man definitely needed a real shower.

Daryl wanted to make a smart-ass remark about her wearing a Speedo, but he decided to keep himself from saying it out loud. He was grateful that she had agreed to help him, even though he was sure that they both knew, that it might not be **that **necessary for her to help him out. They could have just taped the wound on the back off with medical tape and a piece of plastic bag to cover the bandage, but he sure as hell wouldn't bring that up now. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it." Bay said, and added. "Seriously. Don't mention it to anybody. Nobody needs to know."

"Fine by me." Daryl responded, before he fell silent until she was done with his hair.

About five minutes later he stood in front of the bathtub, while Bay explained how it would be going down. "I'll wash your back, you get the front. When we're done soaping you up, I will protect your wounds from the water while you use the shower head to rinse off."

"Alright." Daryl nodded and started opening his belt. He was already topless, so he only had to remove his pants and underwear. Bay turned her back on him and busied herself with cleaning up around the sink while Daryl undressed and stepped into the bathtub.

_Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down. _She chanted in her head. She heard him turn on the water, carefully wetting his body a little, before he turned it off again. Bay turned around and immediately her gaze dropped down to his bare butt. _Dammit! _She forced her eyes back up to focus on his back. His tattoo, oh his wonderful tattoo. She had missed the sight of it. It looked even better now, that he had bulked up.

"You ain't comin' in?" his voice pulled her out of her silent admiration.

"Umm, no. I can help you from out here."

"Yeah maybe, but I have to get close to the rim and get the floor wet. Would be easier if ya just came in." he argued.

He kind of had a point, but then again, it would only take a minute to mop the floor later. Still, Bay found herself removing her boots and socks before she stepped into the tub behind him.

"Your pants are gonna get wet." He said as he looked at her over his shoulder.

"Doesn't matter. I can hang them out to dry later." She better kept her clothes on. Being so close to his naked body was almost too much to handle, and her breath was hitching already. She didn't even realize that she was biting her lip quite hard, when she started to lather up his back and shoulders, letting her hands glide over smooth skin that covered wonderfully hard and strong muscles. They were rippling beneath her fingers, because his own arms and hands were working on his front, and the whole thing was sinfully delicious. It was hard not to lean in and lick up his spine, sink her teeth into his shoulder blades and rake her nails down his back. Her gaze traveled down his body again, and she was glad that he wasn't able to tell and she got to look at him without him ever knowing. _He's still got that cute little butt. Just a liiiiittle bit fleshier. _How she wanted to squeeze it in that moment, but she didn't want to give him the wrong idea... or not even more wrong than she already was giving him. She wished she would have been able to just say no to him, but her own longing to be around him was stronger than her beliefs that it would be better to take things at a snail's pace. "I'm done." she murmured with a sigh after enjoying feeling his skin a little while longer. She hadn't even paid attention to what he had been doing. If she had, then she would have noticed that he had stopped washing himself minutes ago and that he was just standing there with slightly labored breathing and closed eyes, reveling in her gentle ministrations and her familiar touch. His dick was halfway erect and he didn't care if she noticed. Not like she hadn't seen it before.

"Alright." his voice was deep and gruff, and Bay found herself liking those new tones coming out of him. She was unprepared for him turning around until his left side was facing her. He thought it would be easier for her this way to keep the washcloths wrapped in saran wrap pressed against the stitches on his body, so they wouldn't get water and soap in them. Her eyes automatically drifted to his impressive length, and just as quickly she averted her gaze when she noticed that he hadn't been unaffected by their little bath time adventure. She blushed when she felt her insides clench at all the memories that hit her. She remembered well how it had felt in her hands, in her mouth, inside her pussy. She remembered sweet and gentle love making as well as wild and hard fucking, and one of their favorites... the naked and wet dry humping. Yeah, Daryl Dixon definitely knew how to use his wonderful, beautiful dick. She blushed even more and closed her eyes, screwing them shut tightly even, which didn't go unnoticed by Daryl. He was watching her, and he knew that she was just as affected by being close to him as he was being close to her. The fire between them was still burning, it just needed some more tinder for the flames to get higher again.

He rinsed off, getting them both wet all the way, soaking her clothing and part of her long hair in the process. She winced a little at the hot temperature, but got used to it quickly. Daryl had always liked his showers to be scalding, which was why steam started to surround them quickly, making the air sticky and sweltering. He soon hung the shower head back over the faucet, but he kept the water running. He didn't need anyone listening in on them. He grasped her wrists in his hands and pulled her hands from his body, making her drop the washcloths as he slowly backed her up against the wall, still giving her enough space and time to pull away and get out if she wanted to. Her eyes opened and she looked up into his with a mixture of want and fear. She hadn't fled the tub or the room, and now she was with the back against the wall and Daryl closed the gap. He kept his hands by his side, but he slowly lowered his head as he looked at her, his blue eyes sparkling and standing out in the small steam-filled room. "Am I that horrible to look at now?" he rasped as he leaned his forehead against hers and brushed the tip of his nose against her. "That ya gotta squeeze yer eyes shut like that?"

"We really shouldn't..." she murmured breathlessly.

"Ya keep saying that, Bay... but ya still keep comin' back." his hands moved up to her shoulders and he slid them down her arms to her hands, linking them with his and slowly moving them up the wall towards her head, as he leaned his body into her even further, pressing his erection into her midriff.

"You know it's not that simple..."

"It could be... Fresh start..." he breathed against her lips. "We got a chance here, baby girl. I wanna take it. Lemme show you that I can be a good man. A man that stands by his word."

Bay didn't say anything, she simply couldn't, because she was too wrapped up in the moment. He had her pinned against the wall, she was able to feel his length against her belly, and like that wasn't distracting enough, their lips were only a hair's breadth apart. Both their lips were parted as they let them glide along one another, touching, but then again not touching,... just the lightest, teasing caress of lips against lips and sharing breath. Not a kiss... not yet,... just the hint of it, but just as intimate.

"Daryl..." his name left her lips in a whisper full of broken hearts, unfulfilled desire and uncertainty. She didn't know what else to say. She didn't know what to say period.

He released a shuddering breath when he heard her breathe his name, it was so familiar and yet so new. He squeezed her hands and pushed against her even more when he felt his want overwhelm him, and it wasn't just the sexual kind. He wanted all of her and he wanted their life back. He wanted to kiss her, to make love to her, to hold her, to comfort her, to soothe her pains and aches, to listen to her when she needed it and to hear her say that she loved him. He wanted all of it so much that it almost brought him to his knees. He needed her and he couldn't wait any longer. Just one kiss. One kiss would be all he needed for now, to hold him over until she had cleared her head some more. Just when his brain had sent out the signal to press his lips against hers, the rattling of the bathroom door shocked them both out of their haze.

"I'm in here!" Bay yelled without even thinking about it. "I'll be right out!"

"Okay." she heard Maggie call out to her.

"Shit." Bay pulled her hands out of his grasp and gently pushed him away from her. She climbed out of the tub, grabbed her boots and socks and quickly left. She startled, when she found Maggie waiting in front of the door. She flattened herself against it, before Maggie would be able to go inside and discover a very naked Daryl. "M-maggie... I... ummm..." she stammered, not knowing what to say.

Maggie frowned as she looked at Bay's wet clothes and hair. "What were you doing in there? Taking a shower in your clothes? And you forgot to shut off the wat-" Maggie stopped, when she noticed the water getting shut off just as she had said it. "Nevermind... Who is in there?"

Bay looked down at the floor like a guilty pre-schooler, as Maggie's eyes widened. "Are you kidding me? Daryl is in there?" she whispered and grabbed Bay's arm and dragged her away from the bathroom door. "What the hell were you doing? What happened to 'let's not get ahead of ourselves'?"

"I don't know. God, I just don't know, Maggie." Bay sighed when they had arrived in Maggie's room. "I'm... I don't know... I'm still into him. Very much into him. He wants a chance and I want to give it to him, but I don't know if it's right. Am I crazy to want to do this again with him? Part of me says yes, part of me says I'd be crazy if I said no." Bay was talking herself into a frenzy. "I love him. I goddamn love that man and two more minutes and I would have been about to give him a damn hand-job, like it was just yesterday that we said goodbye in his truck!"

Maggie's eyes widened, then she burst out laughing. "Oh my God, Bay. He's got you wrapped around his little finger."

"Yeah, but I don't even mind, because I know he would do anything for me, too."

"Then what's your problem? If you know that, then give him his chance. I bet he won't dare hurt you this time around. Not with the whole Greene family to kick his ass if he screws up. And his brother isn't around anymore either. Sometimes you just gotta jump, Bay. You can't go through life being afraid of getting hurt again and deny yourself happiness because of it. If he still makes you happy, go for it."

"You sound like your father."

"Sounds like he gave you good advice." She winked. "Now go and change before you catch death."

"Gladly." Bay mumbled and left Maggie's room, only to run smack into Daryl, who had just exited the bathroom on bare feet, but dressed in pants and a shirt that hung halfway open. They both froze and Bay bit her lip while she stared at her own name on his body.

"Listen... I'm sorry, Bay. That was-"

"Shut up." she said quietly as she slowly walked towards him. She raised her hand and let her fingers slide over the tattoo, eliciting goosebumps in the process. She leaned in and softly pressed her lips against it, surprising the hell out of Daryl. "You get your chance." she whispered against his skin. "Don't hurt me again. Please." She didn't wait for his response, she didn't need to hear his promise. In this case he would have to let actions speak rather than words.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**I didn't proof-read this, so if there are more mistakes than usual, I am very sorry. I just wanted to get this out to you real quick. I love you guys, see what your reviews do to me? I just keep writing and writing and writing! **

**I guess since you are already getting an update one day after the surgery, it's needless to say that it went very, very well. Five minutes after waking up from anesthesia, he was already sitting in his hospital bed and eating a Kaiser roll and munching pretzels, lol. Kids are seriously so amazingly resilient. Thank you so much for all the well wishes and the support. Naptime is over just now, so this time no PM's but another list of thanks. Next week when he is back to daycare I have more time for PM's again. So here we go**

**Special super duper thanks to the wonderful reviewers:**

**gabby871**

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**crossingRUBYcon**


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

After running into Daryl, Bay went downstairs and left the house to get some freshly washed and dried clothes from the clothes line out back. She didn't want to return to her room, because she knew that was where Daryl had been headed and right now, she didn't want to get changed in front of him. She figured they were both still running hot from their shower, and there were other things to do right now, than getting distracted by each other and probably end up rolling around in her bed. While she got herself some clothes from the line, she spied Hershel walking towards the barn, pushing a wheelbarrow in front of him. As she watched him, Bay's movements got harsher as she yanked a shirt off the line, making the clothespins fly through the air and land at her feet. She shook her head in disgust and stomped back into the house to change. After that, she started cleaning the kitchen. It would have been Beth's turn today, but she was hiding out somewhere with Jimmy, fooling around where her father wouldn't catch them. Bay only hoped that they hadn't strayed too far away from the farm for their alone time.

Half an hour later she was in the stables, cleaning out Nelly's box, when Hershel walked in. Bay watched him with a grim look, making the old man sigh. "You are looking at me like that every single time. It's not going to change anything, Bay, so don't give yourself any wrinkles. I am not letting our family and friends starve."

"They are not starving, Hershel. And they are not our family and friends. Not anymore." Bay said sharply.

"Once again, we'll have to agree to disagree on that."

"It's not right Hershel. Those are not the people we knew anymore. They are dead. There's nothing left of them. Would Annette try to kill you if she was still in there? Your poker buddy Don, would he try to eat you if it was still him? They are not alive Hershel. They died. We don't need to feed them. We don't need to sacrifice our animals for the dead. We have to put them out of their misery. I don't know how many times I will have to say it until you listen. You put an animal out of its misery when it's too far gone, but you won't show your wife the same mercy? You let her be this mindless, human-flesh eating thing? I don't get you, Hershel. I don't... This is not right." Bay shook her head angrily. Beth kept out of it, but Bay and Maggie were butting heads with Hershel regularly on this matter. They thought it wasn't right to keep them in the barn, letting them wander around brainlessly in there while they wait for new meat to show up. It's not what Annette would have wanted.

"They are just sick, Bay. They said it's a virus and a virus can be cured. We can save them." Hershel tried once again to convince her.

"There is no saving them, Hershel." Bay started shouting. "They are dead. DEAD. They freaking died, their hearts stopped beating and you know that. There is no saving them! One way or another, there is no saving them. Dale told me that they were at the CDC. Only one doctor was left standing, Hershel, ONE! And now he's gone. The whole CDC is gone. If they weren't able to help, then there is simply nobody left who can. We are doomed, Hershel. All we can do now is keep living as best as we can... survive... try to get the best out of the time we have left. That's all. No cure, no help." Bay had no illusions about the grim future ahead of them. She didn't think that there would be a cure. Maybe one day someone would be able to come up with a containment plan, but until then, there was nothing that they could do, but to stay put and stay alive. "You are doing your wife a huge disservice by keeping her locked up in that barn along with the others. This isn't God's work, you can't expect this problem to vanish into thin air. You can't help her live anymore. You can only help her and the rest of them to find true peace. I can do it. You won't have to. Just say the word and I will go in there and take care of it."

"You're wrong." Hershel shook his head. "They are still people, Bayanne. They are **our **people. We are not giving up on them. If anyone is doing Annette a disservice, it's you and Maggie, by saying these things."

"Right." Bay laughed humorlessly. "Whatever. Was there anything you needed?"

"Did you give Bessie her antibiotics?"

"I did."

"Good." Hershel nodded and turned to left the stables.

* * *

Shane ran back to the camp as fast as his feet would carry him. He had made a round around the farm, looking for walkers, when he had been attracted to the stables by Bay's shouting. He'd listened in, and as soon as it had become clear to him, that there were walkers in the barn, he'd taken off running. Now it made sense, why Hershel was so insistent on them keeping away from that building.

"Grab your guns!" he shouted as he headed straight for the RV, yanking open the door and looking around wildly for their bag of guns.

"The fuck's going on?" Daryl, who had moved back into his tent minutes ago, frowned when he watched a frantic Shane starting to distribute weapons.

"There's walkers in the barn. Hershel is keeping fucking walkers in the barn!" he shouted, making everyone stand at attention immediately. They all froze for a second, then most of them scrambled to get guns from the bag.

"What?" Rick had just approached from the house after checking on Carl, and had heard what Shane had said.

"Walkers, Rick. He is keeping walkers in there. We could have died out here. We gotta take care of 'em."

"We can't. Shane! Stop! Stop, people, stop! We can't. If we do this, we are out of here, you get that? Carl is not ready to travel and we haven't found Sophia yet. We can't get kicked out, do you get that? Let me talk to Hershel, we can figure this out." Rick was talking urgently, imploring Shane to calm down with his eyes, but his best friend wouldn't have it.

"No. No more talking, Rick. Hershel's just gotta understand. I heard them talking up in the stables. Him and Bay." Shane explained and looked at Daryl. "Your girl knows what's up. She knows what's gotta be done, we have her on our side, Maggie, too, but Hershel is in fucking denial, man. He won't kick us off. Not with two of his girls sidin' with us, Rick. This has got to be done." Shane grabbed a shotgun and pushed it into Daryl's hands. "You with me, man? You gonna protect your girl?"

"Hell yeah!" Daryl nodded enthusiastically. He might not see eye to eye with Shane a lot, but where this was concerned, he was on Shane's side. As long as those walkers were around, this farm was anything but safe, and not the place for Bay to be.

The scene was absolutely chaotic as the group headed towards the barn, most of them wielding guns and ready for battle. Rick's head was spinning. Shane was yelling, everybody was arguing and at the same time Lori and Carol were begging him to do something, to stop this and to ensure that they would be able to stay on this farm. "Shut up! All of you, just shut up! Lower your voices!" Rick shouted, and finally, everybody else quieted down. "This is not our decision to make. This isn't our land. We are guests here. If we clear out this barn, we need Hershel's consent to do so, we can't just go in there guns blazing." Rick took a deep breath and held up his hand, when Shane was about to go ranting again. "You said the girls want this taken care of? That's good, they can help us convince Hershel."

"Convince Hershel, my ass. Sounded like the girls tried and they ain't succeedin' Rick. I heard Bay offer to go in there and do the dirty work for him. He didn't bite!"

Daryl's head snapped up at that and he clutched his shotgun tighter. _The hell? Ain't no way I'm lettin' her go in there. Crazy girl, ain't changed one bit._

"We just got to rip off the band-aid here, Rick. It's gotta be done, we all know it. Hell, his own family knows it, he's just too blind to see it right now."

Rick stemmed his hands into his hips and lowered his head. He didn't know what to do. If they went ahead and killed the walkers in the barn, Hershel would kick them off the land for sure. They weren't ready to leave. They couldn't go back out there. His son needed a safe place, they all needed it. There had to be another way.

"One more night." Rick finally said. "We can survive one more night. We'll keep watch. Tomorrow I'll talk to Hershel, until then, we do nothing. You hear? Nothing, Shane. Don't make Carl pay for what you think is the right thing to do here." Rick implored Shane once more, before he grabbed as many guns as he could out of people's hands and walked back to the camp. Once the guns were all safely put back in the bag and stowed in the RV, he went to seek out Maggie and Bay. He would need their help in bringing this matter up with Hershel. He found Maggie in the kitchen cutting green beans and knocked lightly on the door frame to get her attention.

"Can I talk to you?" he asked her when she looked up. Upon her nod he entered the kitchen and leaned against the counter opposite of her. "We found the barn..."

* * *

"Why the fuck didn't you tell me about the damn barn?" Daryl didn't beat around the bush when he stormed into Bay's room at the same time as Rick was downstairs with Maggie.

Bay looked up at him in surprise. "What do you know about the barn?"

"I know that it's full of walkers." he spat with narrowed eyes as he paced back and forth in front of her. "I know that ya think you can just go in there and take care of it yourself."

"Oh my God, did you eavesdrop on me and Hershel?" she asked with an incredulous look on her face.

"Nah, Shane did. They all know and they all want those fucking geeks gone! Why the fuck didn't ya say anything?"

"Because it's none of your business, Daryl. It's not your problem."

"The hell it isn't!" he scoffed. "How am I supposed to protect ya with a barn full of walkers right next to the damn house? Ya run around here all day, all carefree like nothing ever happened. What if they busted through those doors? You ain't got no gun. You'd be down faster than you could blink. That what ya want?"

"No, it's not what I want." she sighed and dropped down on the bed, which sheets she had just changed again. "Look, I'm not happy about it, either. Maggie and I talked to him a hundred times, but Hershel still thinks he can save all of them. He thinks he's just gotta keep them fed while he waits for a cure."

"He's insane. He ain't got no idea what it's like out there. There ain't no saving them. I saw it with my own eyes. At the CDC. They're fucking dead. Their brain just restarts enough to get them up walking, that's it. Everything else is dead."

"You don't have to tell **me**. I believe you. But unfortunately for you guys, what I believe doesn't count here. You're gonna have to convince Hershel."

"Rick's working on that." Daryl sighed, finally calming down again.

"Good luck to Rick, then."

"You can help him. You and Maggie. He's prolly gonna ask ya to." Daryl warned her.

"We can talk to him, but I don't know what it's gonna help." Bay looked at him and noticed him pressing his hand to his side for a moment. "Pain worse again?"

"It's fine." he waved her off.

"Liar." she smiled and opened her nightstand drawer. "Here, snagged these for you earlier." she handed him two small white pills which would help him with the pain.

"Thanks." he took them and swallowed them dry. It made him happy that she had thought about him and had gotten him pain killers as a precaution. Still, a bit of an awkward silence befell them now. She was giving him a second chance, but what exactly did that mean? Were they back together now? Or still just friends? What was he supposed to do now?

He started by sitting next to her on her bed. They just sat there for a moment, neither knowing what to say, before he cleared his throat after a couple of minutes. "I'm gonna go back out tomorrow. Look for the girl."

"I would tell you that you should wait another day or two, but I guess I'd be wasting my breath. Am I right?"

"You could come with me." he shrugged casually. "You know... make sure I'm safe." he grinned slightly and nudged her elbow with his.

"I can't. I'm going to the pharmacy tomorrow, but you should take Maggie. She knows the area very well." Bay told a frowning Daryl.

"The hell you going to the pharmacy for? Thought that was Maggie's job?"

"Not exclusively. I need something and I wanna make sure to get the right thing, so I'm going myself."

"You ain't goin' by yourself!"

"Okay. I'll ask Glenn to come with me, if you take Maggie with you." she smiled when he rolled his eyes at her.

"Fine. Don't know what the girl's gonna help, but if it makes ya take Glenn to the pharmacy, then I'll do it."

"Maggie can help you a great deal. She knows the land and the surrounding farms like the back of her hand, unlike me. She'll be more help than me, actually. You should head north to the houses, look there." Bay suggested.

"Houses are possibly full of walkers. Don't think she would go there." Daryl argued.

"If I would be a little girl lost in the woods, I'd look for a house. Hole up somewhere warm until someone found me. Get out of that green, hellish maze only superb hunters can navigate without a compass."

"Was that a compliment?"

"Maybe... " she laughed and nudged him this time. "What's this I hear about you throwing squirrels and being abrasive? That's not you."

"It is me." he corrected her. "What I turned into after you were gone. What Merle made out of me. Was nothin' good in life left for me after they told me you jumped. Was fucking angry all the time. Was angry at you, too."

"At me?" she was surprised. "What were you angry at me for?"

"Suicide... taking after your parents. Taking the easy way out. That wasn't the girl I knew. You're a fighter. You don't give up, no matter how hard shit is. Should've known you never would have done it." he reached over and carefully took her hand in his. "I ain't the same anymore, Bay. Guess you should know that before... dunno..."

"Who says I haven't changed? It's been a long time, Daryl. We both grew up, we've both seen things... done things... It's bound to be different this time around." she looked at him and smiled. "Just look at you. You look so different. Physically you're a completely new person." She reached her free hand up and traced her fingertips over his scruff. The Daryl she had been with back in the day had always been so soft, no facial hair whatsoever. Looks like he'd been a late bloomer, but he's since made up for it. "Daryl 2.0... as stupid as it sounds. It's gonna be different, and maybe that's for the best. Like you said, fresh start."

"You're gonna hate who I've become." he scoffed self-deprecatingly and hung his head.

"No." she squeezed his hand reassuringly, making him look up at her. "Trust me, I can say with the utmost certainty, that I could never hate you. Believe me, I've tried. I had enough reason to, but it never happened." She pulled their linked hands up to her mouth and kissed his knuckles gently, one by one. "Things are gonna be better again. You can find your way back, Daryl. We can do that together. Maybe not all the way back, but the guy you used to be, he's still in there. I can see it in your eyes. What you are doing for Carol... that's you. Sweet and selfless, always trying to help. You are still that person. Not all is lost. And just so you know, the only fault I ever saw you having was, that you kept listening to your brother. Apart from that, you used to be perfect in my eyes."

"You're really fucking crazy. Always been." he smiled a little.

"Maybe, yeah... But I guess you never really minded all that much, did you?" she grinned and leaned in a little closer.

"Nah... Liked it all." he mumbled, and started biting his lip, showing her that he was nervous. It made her smile even more. This was what she had always loved about him. Sometimes he was so confident, that it might have bordered on being cocky, while other times, he was still painfully shy and nervous. She wanted to kiss those damn lips. They were still as luscious as ever, even though the facial hair might take a bit getting used to.

They were so close,... so damn close, but once again, a knock on the door stopped them from kissing. Bay looked to the door just when Maggie poked her head in. The younger woman's eyes widened when she saw them so close and holding hands, while Bay sighed deeply. "Maggie, we really gotta work on your timing."

"I'm sorry, but we should talk. All of us." She opened the door wider to reveal Rick, and Daryl, on instinct, quickly removed his hand from her grasp and shifted a little away from her. Bay didn't even notice in that moment, because she was focused on Maggie and Rick.

"About the barn and your father's opinion on the people inside?"

"Exactly."

"Well, you know my opinion on the matter, I don't know what else you want to talk about." Bay was slightly frustrated at having been interrupted again, and it showed, much to the amusement of Maggie and Rick. However, they didn't show it as this wasn't the time to joke around.

"We need to talk some sense into him." Maggie closed the door behind them and leaned against it.

"We talked to him a million times, Maggie. He's in denial. He doesn't see them as dead. He really thinks people can find a cure, that they give them a shot and they miraculously come back to life." Bay was sick and tired of having the same discussion over and over again. "He's crazy where that's concerned."

Rick nodded. "It doesn't work like that. We were at the CDC, they had no idea what it was or how to cure it. It's all over the world, that's what he told us. Ain't just here. There's nothing left. The walkers are starting to outnumber us. We have to put down as much as we can of them, try to keep it from spreading it even further and further. We've been out there, we know what it's like and I'm telling you, we can't go back out there. Not with the kids. This farm is a blessing. I don't know how, but it's completely shielded. It's where my son needs to be. It's where Sophia needs to be once we find her. We can't leave. We're dead if he sends us back out there."

Bay looked at Maggie, trying to see where she stood on the whole group staying. She didn't have to wonder for long, because Maggie spoke up when Rick was finished. "We have to show him the benefits of them staying. We need help around here. We've all been working like crazy and we're barely able to keep up with everything."

"Your father is refusing help Maggie, you know that. He says that it's his field to tend." Bay reminded her.

"I know, but he is not getting any younger. He needs to see that, and I think he **is** starting to see it. He just needs a push. We have to convince him to open up our home permanently to Rick and the others."

"Okay, we'll try. We'll talk to him tomorrow after we're back from our runs. Can we get Beth on board, too? If he listens to anybody, out of all of us, it will be her he would listen to the most." Bay looked questioningly at Maggie, who was already nodding.

"I already talked to her. She thinks it would be good for them to stay, too. The only thing she's keeping out of is the barn matter."

"Right." Bay slapped her hands down on her thighs with finality and got up from the bed. "Then we'll talk to him tomorrow." she said again, while Rick and Maggie nodded in agreement. "Oh Maggie, while I have you here. Since I'm going out to the pharmacy tomorrow, can you accompany Daryl while he searches for Sophia? Show him the way to the houses up north?"

"Sure. You got it." Maggie nodded. She didn't mind at all. It would actually be a good opportunity for her to talk to Daryl and get to know him a little. "When do you wanna leave?" She asked the man who was sitting on Bay's bed.

"First light." he said in a gruff tone of voice, making Bay roll her eyes with a little smile. They would really have to work on his gruffness a little.

"Good. I'll meet you out front at first light, then." Maggie confirmed and opened the door to leave.

"Thanks." Rick smiled at Bay. "For helping us."

"No thanks necessary." Bay smiled and put her hand on his arm. In his peripheral vision Rick was able to see Daryl's eyes zeroing in on Bay touching his arm, and he couldn't help himself, he needed to see the reaction it would evoke in the redneck, when he put his hand on Bay's back in return.

"If you need help with anything, Bay... Just tell me." he smiled and casually let his eyes wander over to Daryl, who was scowling at him murderously. Rick grinned internally and removed his hand from Bay's body in the next moment.

"Actually, there is something." Bay said. "I need to go to the pharmacy tomorrow and I wondered if Glenn might be able to come with me."

"I'll ask him, but it shouldn't be a problem." Rick assured her. "Daryl? Can you come back to camp with me? We wanna talk about the search tomorrow."

"Mhm." Daryl grunted with a nod. He got up and when he passed Bay he wanted to ask her, if he would see her later, but somehow, he didn't dare in front of Rick. So the men left without another word, and Bay actually had to laugh a little after she had closed the door.

"No you don't, Daryl Dixon. You don't go back to being ashamed of me in front of other people. That's not how it's gonna work. Didn't let you do that back then and I won't let you do it now."

She didn't see him for the rest of the day, though, and the next day he left with Maggie first thing in the morning, to look some more for Sophia. Bay prayed every day for the little girl. She knew it's been days and that the chances of finding her alive were slim to none, but until they didn't know for sure, she wouldn't give up hope for Sophia. Kids were resilient. If anyone would survive something like this, then it would be them.

* * *

"You and Maggie are getting closer, aren't you?" Bay asked Glenn conversationally when they were riding into town.

"Uh... yes Ma'... I mean, Bay." Glenn replied nervously.

"So... do you like her or is she just your convenient slam-piece for the time being?"

Glenn's eyes widened and he shook his head frantically. "No, no, no... it's not like that. I'm not like that. She's... I like her."

"Good." Bay nodded with satisfaction. "She's the last family I have you know? I would hate to see her get hurt."

"I won't... not on purpose."

"Yeah... Heard that one before, Glenn. But I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt. You seem like a good guy."

"Thanks... I guess." he mumbled and ducked his head back down. Bay watched him with interest, not getting why he was so fidgety around her, but suddenly it hit her.

"Are you scared of me, Glenn?"

"No!" he answered a little too quickly. "Just... you can be intimidating." he said, and startled when Bay actually laughed out loud.

"ME? Intimidating? Are you kidding me?"

"I... uhm... you dated Daryl... he's... um... different. You gotta be intimidating yourself to handle him, I figure." Glenn stammered, while Bay continued chuckling.

"Oh boy... Glenn, you don't know the first thing about me or Daryl. Well, good thing that we are all going to spend more time together, right?" Bay winked. "Hey, relax. I'm not gonna rip your head off until you seriously screw up. See this?" she pulled the cross necklace out of her top for him to see. "Some people liked to describe me as a quiet little church mouse, but Daryl will tell you that I can turn into a freaking Mama Bear if you threaten my cubs. That's all you have to worry about Glenn. Treat my family right and we'll be a-okay."

"Yes, Ma'am!"

"Okay, call me Ma'am one more time and I **will **whack you upside the head." Bay threatened jokingly. "I'm thirty years old, and not a grandma yet."

"How old is Daryl?" Glenn asked curiously. They had all guessed around the campfire a couple of times, but nobody had been able to figure it out, and there were a lot of different opinions.

"He's two years older than me. Which makes him thirty-two now. Thirty-three soon."

"He looks older. I was way off. Good thing we didn't bet on it." Glenn finally laughed a little.

"If you look at him closely you can see it. I guess the facial hair and all the dirt are making him look older. I was startled at first, too. At how much older he looked. But after I cleaned him a little I saw that he actually hadn't aged that much."

"Were you together long?"

"A couple of months. Close to a year. I think you and I, we know two very different Daryls. It's surprising to me, that you were so surprised about him having had a 'nice' girlfriend once upon a time. He was a wonderful boyfriend, you know? He did everything to make sure that I was okay. He worried when I wasn't feeling well. He pulled up the blanket when he woke up at night and noticed that I was cold. He was very caring. Don't tell him I told you, though. I'm not sure he would like that these days." Bay quickly added at the end.

"Hard to imagine." Glenn tried to envision Daryl being the perfect boyfriend, but it wasn't happening. "Guess he changed after you broke up."

"Looks like he did, yeah. And I think we can thank Merle for a lot of that. But I think Daryl is changing yet again. I think now with Merle gone, he is returning to his roots. He's a good guy, Glenn. You'll see."

"Yeah." Glenn nodded, not knowing what else to say. "We're here."

They got off their horses and went inside, carefully checking for walkers, before they started looking for the things on their lists. Bay soon put her backpack on the counter and took out some items in order to reorganize it and fit in more stuff. Glenn joined her, scratching his head as he tried to figure out where to look for the item Lori had written down for him on an extra piece of paper. Absently his gaze drifted over the items Bay had put on the counter next to her pack. _Micro-thin large Condoms. Trojan Magnum. Magnum XL. _His eyes widened and he inhaled audibly.

"What?" Bay asked without looking at him.

"Nothing. Just that that's way more than I ever wanted to know about Daryl, I guess." Glenn made a face as he waved towards the condoms. Bay looked over then and blushed as she quickly stuffed the condom boxes into her backpack.

"Oh... You didn't see that!" she mumbled mortified.

"Nope... no I didn't. Already forgot about that." he said quickly.

"Are you done with your list?"

"Um yeah... except for one thing... I um... I don't know... Lori wrote it down. I'm just gonna..."

Before he was able to say anymore, Bay had torn the piece of paper out of his hand and looked at what Lori had written down. _Pills "Plan B". Lori needs the morning after pill? Oh man, didn't think I'd ever have to deal with those again. Might not be a bad idea to take a couple of boxes of those. _Bay took off towards the back to go look for the pills, while Glenn just stood there with a puzzled look on his face.

"You know what she meant?"

"Yep." Bay simply stated while she looked through the shelves. She took all that was left of the emergency contraceptive and turned back around to go back to Glenn. She got the shock of her life when two cold hands grabbed her arms and pulled her back. She shrieked and struggled and tried to get free, but the walker that had grabbed her was surprisingly strong. "GLENN! GLEEEENN!" she screamed for help as she struggled with all she had. The sound of teeth snapping close to her ear made her heart beat out of her chest in a panic. She stomped on the walkers foot with all her might, trying to distract him with pain like she would do with a living person, but unfortunately for her, walkers didn't feel pain and it didn't let up and the next growl was dangerously close to her ear.

"Bay! Head down!" Glenn yelled as he came running, Maggie's baseball bat ready to swing. Bay bowed her head until her chin hit her chest and just a second later she felt the bat whizz past her head and strike the walker with a loud crunch. It let go of her as it fell back and Bay's shaky legs gave out and she fell to the floor as well. She quickly crawled backwards, putting some distance between herself and that thing that had almost killed her, watching Glenn bash its head in until it stopped moving. "Bay! Are you okay? Did it get you?" Glenn knelt down next to her and looked over her arms and neck, trying to spot any scratches or bites. He almost fell back when Bay was suddenly lunging herself at him, slinging her arms around him and hugging him close.

"Thank you!" she whispered shakily. "Thank you, Glenn."

He patted her back and held her for a moment, before he gently pushed her back. "Let's get out of here."

"Gladly." she was still gasping for air when Glenn helped her up and they grabbed their backpacks and left the pharmacy.

She had barely calmed down by the time they had reached the farm, when the next shock was waiting for them. Gunfire. So damn much gunfire greeted them, that Bay didn't dare breathe as all the possibilities of what might be happening flashed through her mind. They took off at a gallop and the closer they got to the house, the louder the shots got, but they started dying down. They halted, when the barn came into view and they saw what was going on. The highway group was assembled in front of the barn. The doors were open and the walkers were stumbling out and getting shot by Rick, Shane &amp; Co. Only Dale and Carol were hanging back and watching, while Hershel was on his knees, with a crying Beth clinging on to him.

"Holy shit." Bay watched the scene with wide eyes, and her stomach dropped. She didn't know how this had happened, but she had a feeling, that Hershel hadn't given his consent. This was not how it was supposed to go down, but it was too late to intervene. The last walker had gone down and it was suddenly eerily quiet. They all just stood and stared silently for a little while, then she watched Hershel get up on wobbly legs and walk back towards the house, Rick walking next to him, talking urgently. Bay and Glenn got off the horses and tied them to the post in front of the house. "What happened?" She asked as the trio came closer.

"Shane took matters into his own hand." Rick said with disdain, shaking his head in disappointment at his best friends actions. Bay would later learn that Shane had gotten fed up with waiting and had riled up T-Dog and Andrea, walking down to the barn with them and opening the doors by pulling on the chain with a pickaxe. There had been no stopping him.

"I'm sorry Hershel." Bay approached the old man, but he waved her off.

"This is what you wanted. Don't you tell me you're sorry. Leave me be. All of you." he said with a tear-stricken voice and disappeared inside the house while Beth launched herself into Bay's arms and sobbed hysterically. She had just watched her mother getting gunned down mercilessly. To Beth it hadn't been a walker, but the woman who had given birth to her, raised her and loved her for all her life. The young girl was shocked to the core.

"Bay, I'm sorry. This is not what we wanted, I tried to stop it, but it was too late." Rick apologized to her.

"It's not your fault, Rick. It's okay... It's done. We'll work through it, and we'll be fine." Bay said. She wasn't so sure of it, but it's what she hoped would happen. "Come on, sweetheart, let's get you inside, too." she murmured gently to Beth and walked her into the house.

"Bay!" Rick called out to her. "We can't go back out there."

"Go back to your family, Rick. We'll figure this out later. I promise. I need to take care of Beth and we need to wait for Maggie." Bay told him before she took the crying girl to her room. She laid down with her and let Beth cry into her shoulder for what seemed like an eternity. She hoped Maggie and Daryl wouldn't be out for too long. She needed both of them here, and pronto.

"It's okay, Beth. Ssshhh it's alright, sweetie. She didn't feel anything anymore. She's at peace now." Bay murmured gently to Beth, hoping she would calm down soon. Between getting attacked in the pharmacy and coming home to a small massacre, she was unbelievably tired. She needed to find Daryl, drag him into her room and into her own bed, crawl into the safety and warmth only his arms were able to provide, and sleep.

She was glad that Daryl was back in her life, and she found herself liking most of the new people staying on their farm, but one thing was for damn sure: Life had been much quieter and much more peaceful without them around.

* * *

Unfortunately the day went from bad to worse. When Beth had fallen asleep, Bay had gone to check on Hershel in his bedroom. She had found it empty, so she had searched the entire farm for her 'Substitute Daddy', as Daryl called Hershel, but hadn't found him anywhere.

"DALE!" she ran towards the RV. She had noticed quickly that Dale had an eye on everybody and always seemed to know about everything that was going on. Maybe he had seen Hershel somewhere. "Have you seen Hershel?"

"Not since that massacre earlier. What's wrong?" The man in the Hawaiian shirt and floppy hat walked towards her, wearing a concerned expression.

"I wanted to check on him, but I can't find him anywhere. I think he's gone." Bay was slightly hysteric. "I looked everywhere, Dale. Where in the world is he? He can't leave the farm..."

"Now, now, calm down, dear. It will be alright. Let's go find Rick, maybe he knows something." Dale gently squeezed Bay's arms, trying to reassure her that things would be okay, while they went towards the barn where clean-up was happening.

"It won't be alright, Dale. We don't know how to handle ourselves out there. We don't have much experience with the walkers, especially not Hershel. What if he gets bit?"

"Hershel is a smart man, he can handle himself until we find him, I truly believe that, Bay. Don't worry. Maybe he needed to get away for a moment, maybe he is wandering around the land."

"No, he isn't. See that?" she pointed towards a big shed that had functioned as a garage. "His truck is gone. Goddamnit Hershel..."

"Rick!" Dale called out to their leader to get his attention. "We have a problem."

"Another one?" Rick said with a tired voice and rubbed the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

"Hershel's gone." Dale stated.

"Gone?" That's when Rick noticed Bay's distraught state. "He left the farm?"

"His truck is gone." Bay nodded, trying to keep her tears from falling, but staying calm after the morning they already had wasn't easy. "We have to go after him, we have to find him."

"I'll go." Rick nodded and took off his gloves. "Shane!" he called out to his best friend before he turned his attention back to Bay. "Any idea where he might have gone?"

"I don't know... maybe the bar? He's an alcoholic. He's been sober for years, but watching your wife die again might drive anyone back to the bottle, I reckon."

"Alright, we'll check that out first. It's in town?"

"Yeah, just a little ways down the street from the pharmacy."

"Okay. Shane!" Rick bellowed again.

"You're not gonna take Shane, are you? I'm sure he's the last person Hershel wants to see right now." Bay looked at Rick incredulously.

"Ain't got no one else, Bay."

"You have Glenn and T-Dog, why not take one of them?"

"Because Shane and I work well together, Bay. I agree, Hershel probably doesn't want to see him right now, but I think if he isn't at the bar I have a better chance of finding him faster with Shane." Bay wasn't happy about Rick taking Shane and it was very obvious to the former sheriff. He took a step closer and put his hands on her upper arms and looked her in the eyes. "Bay listen,... you and Hershel, you took care of my family, now let me take care of yours and trust me, alright?"

"Alright, fine." Bay sighed. "I have to get back to Beth. Please hurry and bring him back, yeah?"

"I will." Rick promised and hoped that he would be able to keep it.

"Come on, Bay. I'll walk you back to the house." Dale guided her away from the barn and to the steps of the porch. "I'll keep watch. I'll tell you as soon as I see something."

"Thanks Dale." she smiled gratefully and went back inside to look after Beth. She hoped the girl wouldn't lose her father today, too. _Jesus Hershel, please, please, please be safe. We can't lose you, too._

* * *

**Thank you for reading! And a happy TWD-Sunday to all of you! The next chapter will be out on Tuesday.**

**I hope I replied to everyone who reviewed. I sometimes get confused, lol, don't kill me for that. **

**Also thank you to my lovely guest reviewers who I can't reply to.**

**Dear Snowbird: I am planning on covering all seasons. I would love to keep this going forever, lol. Thank you so much for the continued support, I hope you are doing well! xoxo**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

While Glenn and Bay were at the pharmacy, Maggie and Daryl had already been trekking through the woods for a while. Maggie watched the silent hunter for a while, studying him and tried to imagine what kind of couple Bay and Daryl must have been. Daryl had been impressed that the Greene girl had kept quiet for a very long time, and he immediately wished she would go back to it, when she finally did open her mouth.

"You know that you're gonna be in a world of hurt if you screw over Bay, right?"

"You don't beat around the bush, do you?" Daryl rasped unimpressed. He had expected something like this, but that didn't mean that he liked it.

"Just wanna make sure that you know what you are dealing with if you decide to go ahead and leave her again. My dad, Beth and I, we will follow you and you'll wish that you had never shown up at our farm. Bay's my sister, I want her to finally be truly happy."

"You forget who you're talking to. I know that she ain't your sister."

"She is." Maggie stated forcefully.

"Alright." Daryl sighed. He really wasn't in the mood for this. He had no plans of screwing Bay over, and he was smart enough to know, that there would be consequences if he did. "And what you mean by finally truly happy? Thought she was happy living with you guys."

"She was. But something was always missing. Everybody was able to tell. She was never able to let go of what happened to her in Dalton. She never told us what happened with you, but we knew that it kept causing her heartache all these years." Maggie explained, unknowingly making Daryl feel like shit. Bay had apparently felt just as miserable as he had all these years, and he was to blame for all of it. He had no idea how she was able to look past that and be with him again. "I'm pretty sure what's been missing, was you, Daryl. She might be a little torn about it, but she's happy you're here. Now you better go ahead and make her happy, or else..." Maggie threatened, only half joking.

"Or y'all hunt me down and beat my ass into the ground, got it." Daryl nodded, sounding bored. Maggie just shook her head with a laugh, feeling a little bit silly about giving Daryl the 'don't hurt her or else'-talk, but she wanted to make it clear that she had her family's back, and Bay was part of that family. She got that Daryl wasn't impressed. She was sure he had expected this to happen, and it might have been cliché of her, but it's what family did. She looked up at him again, when she heard him clear his throat uncomfortably. "She... um... she ever been with anyone since she's been with y'all? A guy, I mean?"

"You should ask her about that. Not my place to tell." Maggie replied, making Daryl's heart sink. To him that meant that Bay probably had other boyfriends. It was stupid and hypocritical of him to be disappointed about that, because he'd been with a couple of women. No relationship or nothing, just fucking. He was able to go quite a while without needing sexual release, but every once in a while his hand just wouldn't do and he needed a quick fuck. _Bay's gonna be so fucking disappointed when she finds out. Fuck._ The thought of telling her made him cringe, but if she would ever ask, he wouldn't lie about it. "Did you really think you were protecting her when you left?" Maggie's voice broke through his thoughts.

"Yeah. I thought I was doing the right thing. Went back for her when I was finally able to pull my head outta my own ass. Was just too late."

"Must have been awful... to think she died."

"Made me wanna die myself." Daryl mumbled. He still heard Pat's voice in his head, telling him that Bay was gone. "Was drunk for months. Wasn't able to stand reality." he said, surprising Maggie and himself with his honesty. "Enough with the chattin' now. Got a little girl to find." Daryl said a little more gruff again, when he'd caught Maggie's surprised gaze. It wasn't like him to open up to strangers, and he didn't like people looking at him like Maggie just had. He was done with that for now. "Come on."

They fell silent again and kept walking. After about another hour Maggie told him that they were getting close to the houses, the woods were already getting less thick and less trees gave way to more grass. "What's that?" Maggie frowned and pointed towards a tree in the distance. They both squinted and slowly walked closer, and Daryl's eyes widened again, when he realized what it was.

"That's Sophia's doll." Daryl lowered his crossbow and strode towards the tree. When he reached it, he went up on his toes and grabbed the doll that was stuck on a branch. "Looks like she climbed up the tree. Smart girl. Best way for her to hide out here." He pushed the doll between his pants and his belt and looked around. "SOPHIA!" he shouted out into the woods, straining his ears for a reply, but none came.

"Maybe Bay was right? Maybe she did go for the houses?" Maggie suggested.

"Yeah. Possible. Only one way to find out."

"We can't check them all out today. We have to check back in with the group soon." Maggie reminded him. The walk had taken longer than anticipated, much to Daryl's chagrin.

"I know. Better hurry then." he said and strode off north towards the houses.

* * *

They didn't have any luck, but Daryl would return to the houses the next day and check out some more. And he decided that he would go alone. Maggie was just slowing him down and he would get more done by himself. He hated to admit it, but their time was running out and every minute counted. So no matter what Bay had to say about it, he would go out alone the next day.

When Maggie and him broke through the treeline and walked towards the house, they spotted the activity by the barn right away. Glenn, T-Dog and Andrea were dragging corpses towards the truck. Maggie's eyes almost popped out of her head and she swallowed hard. "What in the world... ?"

"Looks like yer Daddy didn't need talking to." Daryl said with his trademark squint firmly in place.

"Glenn!" Maggie picked up the pace and called out to the man she was quickly starting having feelings for. He came walking towards her with raised hands.

"Maggie... Shit, Maggie." Glenn didn't know how to explain this.

"What happened?" she demanded to know.

"Shane went kinda crazy and he opened the barn and took things upon himself. I wasn't here. Bay and I just came back when they shot the last ones. Maggie... your Dad is missing." Glenn winced when Maggie turned shocked eyes towards him.

"WHAT?"

"He was in shock, he told us to leave him alone and when Bay went to check on him earlier, he was gone. Rick and Shane are looking for him. Bay suggested his old watering hole in town."

"I'm going after them." Maggie said, but Glenn grabbed her arms.

"Don't. They got it."

"You really think he wants to see Rick and Shane right now?" Maggie shouted at him.

"I don't know, Maggie. I guess not, he didn't even want to talk to Bay, because she wanted the barn walkers put down, so maybe you're not the person he wants to see right now either, and I think Bay needs you here. Beth isn't doing so good." Glenn had barely finished when Maggie ran off towards the house. Daryl and Glenn watched her for a moment, before the hunter's eyes focused on Glenn.

"Everything go alright with the pharmacy run?"

"Eeerm... yeaaah..." Glenn replied nervously and he took off his hat and scratched his head, wishing to be anywhere but here right now, when Daryl's eyes narrowed.

"What?" he asked as he took another step towards Glen.

"Bay kind of had a close call... walker came out of nowhere at the pharmacy and grabbed her." Glenn watched Daryl's expression turn murderous and he quickly held up his hands. "She's fine. Little shaken, but I got to her in time."

"The hell you mean you got to her in time? You left her alone?" Daryl shouted furiously at the younger man.

"I was in there with her, she just went in the back to get something and I was at the counter... "

"You don't fucking take your eyes off of her! Why the fuck you go with her if ya don't watch out for her?"

Andrea jogged up to the pair when she saw Daryl bumping his chest into Glenn's while he shouted at the poor guy. "Daryl! Calm down, she is fine. It's not anyone's fault. You know that. Come on, we need help."

"Nah, gotta find Carol. Found the girl's doll. Getting close." Daryl grumbled while he still shot hard glares in Glenn's direction.

"That's great." Andrea smiled genuinely. "Go tell her. We got this for now. Come on Glenn. We need to get this done."

* * *

Bay had told Maggie everything that had happened, after the younger woman had stormed into Beth's room. Beth had calmed down a little, but she was still crying. The three of them sat on the bed hugging and talking, the older women trying to console Beth as best as they could. Even though Beth was slightly traumatized by the whole event, she voiced that she wanted the group to stay. She had noticed how her father had been struggling to keep up with his work over the past few weeks, and she thought that the help and protection the experienced group provided might come in handy. Bay and Maggie agreed and they talked about how they would try to convince Hershel that it would be best if they all lived here together and tried to stay alive and make the best of it as a big group and family. Bay soon left Beth's room and left Beth in Maggie's capable hands, in order to return to her own room and get a moment to process everything by herself. But when she got there, Daryl was already waiting for her, sitting on her bed, and she couldn't have been happier.

"The hell, girl? Are ya al-" he didn't get to finish. Bay flung herself into his arms, knocking him back on the bed with her on top of him, and hid her face in the crook of his neck.

"Shut up. Just for a moment, please." her felt her shaking and heard her voice breaking, so he shut up immediately and slowly wrapped his arms around her to hold her close. Bay moaned quietly against his neck when he squeezed her tight and let her feel his strength. Despite the situation he smirked slightly when he heard the little sound coming from her. She nuzzled his neck for a moment, before she looked up at him with glassy eyes. "Any luck on your trip?"

"Found her doll. Carol's over the moon. I'll find her. I'm going back out tomorrow, check the houses. You were right." he told her, making her grin a little.

"Told you." she pressed a kiss against his jawline. Daryl's hand slid up into her hair, cupping the back of her head and she knew what he was about to do. She couldn't get distracted, not before Hershel wasn't back safe and sound, and she knew once they started kissing, they wouldn't stop anytime soon. So she slowly pulled out of his grasp, but gave him an apologetic smile. "Not now. I need to know that Hershel is alright."

Daryl nodded and sat up with her, finally sliding his hands over her arms and checking for marks. "What about you? You alright? No scratches?"

"I'm fine. Just a little shocked. It came out of nowhere. It didn't make any sound until it grabbed me. Thank God for Glenn. He was amazing."

"Pfff right. Shouldn't have let you out of his sight in the first place." Daryl scoffed angrily, making Bay frown at him.

"You didn't give him a hard time, did you?"

"He deserved it."

"No, he didn't, Daryl. He saved my life."

"Wouldn't have needed saving if he would have paid attention."

"Stop. Seriously Daryl! It wasn't his fault. Geez, no wonder those people are scared of you."

"Told you, you'd hate what I've become."

"Just stop. Please? I told you that I could never hate you. Glenn doesn't deserve your anger. If anything, he deserves a thank you. If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't be sitting on your lap right now." Bay looked at him imploringly until he nodded slightly. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips against his cheek. "Be good. We're all in this together now."

"Fine." he sighed and hugged her closer again.

"Can you stay with me tonight? In here? I don't think I can sleep if they don't find him before dark."

"Sure." he nodded, his voice finally gentler again.

"Thank you. I need to go and give Lori her things from the pharmacy. After that I'll start dinner. Everybody still needs to eat."

"'Kay. I'll see if they still need help out there." Daryl said and steadied her while she climbed off his lap and the bed.

"Okay. See you later."

"Later." Daryl pulled her hand up to his mouth and kissed the back of it, before he left the room. Bay went to her backpack and got out the morning after pills for Lori. She put them in an extra bag and went down to the guest room.

"Hey Lori." Bay smiled when she poked her head into the guest room. "Hi kiddo." she greeted Carl as well, before she focused on Lori again. "Do you have a minute?"

"Yes." Lori followed Bay out of the room, immediately starting to apologizing for what the group had done with the barn and the walkers. "I'm so sorry, I know you wanted to talk to Hershel first. I don't know what's wrong with Shane, he's usually not like this..."

"Stop. It's okay. We'll figure all that out later. I,... um... have the pills you wanted." Bay said and watched Lori's eyes widen.

"I'm gonna kill him."

"No, don't. He had no idea what he was looking for, Lori. I took the paper from him before he had a chance to stop me. Guess you better take these quickly, so they do their job and keep other stuff from happening." Bay tried to make light of the situation, but she got a weird feeling, when Lori started crying. "Lori? What's wrong?"

Lori grabbed Bay's arm and pulled her into the bathroom, locking the door behind them. "I'm pregnant. The other stuff already happened."

"Are you sure? Did you take a test?" Bay looked at her with wide eyes.

"I had Glenn bring me one on the last trip."

"But then why did you want the Plan B's... Oh..." Bay suddenly realized what exactly Lori wanted to do with the pills. "You want to try to force a miscarriage."

"I can't have this baby, Bay. Not like this. Not in this world. What if Hershel sends us away? It's a death sentence for sure. For the baby and for me. I can't do this. Please don't judge." Tears started to stream down Lori's face as she kept her voice low and tried to keep herself from sobbing.

"Does Rick know?"

"No. I don't want him to know. I'll just make this go away... Please Bay, you can't tell anyone."

"You should tell Rick, Lori. You can work this out."

"No. I really can't Bay. I don't want this. I'm not happy about it, I know it sounds horrible, but you don't understand." Lori slid down the wall and sat on the floor, hugging herself and rocking back and forth slightly.

Bay sat down on the floor opposite of Lori. She took a deep breath and smiled bravely. "Did Rick tell you how Daryl and I 'split up'?" Bay asked, and when Lori nodded she continued. "The day Daryl left... I had a doctor's appointment. Daryl and I had been a bit negligent with our protection. I ended up taking these myself a couple of times." Bay laughed and waved the bag around. "I wanted to get birth control pills. But it was too late for that. The standard urine sample said I was pregnant already. It was very early, so the doctor wasn't able to see anything on the ultrasound yet. He took my blood, set me up for another appointment three weeks later and sent me home. I was completely shocked. Totally overwhelmed. I wanted nothing more than to talk to Daryl. Have him reassure me, that whatever happened, that he was with me and we would figure it out together. I couldn't wait to see him and hear him tell me that everything would be alright..." Bay's eyes started to water and her voice started breaking when the memories of that day hit her. "And then I come home to this mess... The mess, I now know Merle left behind, but back then, I thought it was Daryl. All his things were gone. He was gone. Just gone... I was all alone. I had been alone before, but that was the only time in my life, I truly, truly felt alone and lonely. Losing him was so much worse than losing all of my family altogether. I wasn't able to function. I didn't eat, barely drank anything, I just laid in bed and cried. Lost both of my jobs,... I went from having the perfect relationship with the perfect man, working to achieve my dreams and actually having fun doing it, to having nothing, in the blink of an eye. No relationship, no money, no jobs, no future, but, as it turned out a couple of weeks later, his baby inside of me." Both women were crying full-on by now and Bay kept wiping away tear after tear as they spilled out of her eyes during telling her story. "Daryl leaving, and thinking that he had played me all along... it left me in so much emotional pain... I didn't know how to go on. Especially not in Dalton where everything reminded me of him. So I left. When I got to that bridge, the one everybody assumed I had jumped off of... It started out of nowhere. I had such painful cramps,... I had never experienced anything like it. I knew immediately what was happening. I was losing the baby. And even though the pain was crippling, I was relieved, Lori. I was freaking happy about it. I knew it was for the best. I had no means to take care of this baby. No help, no money, and at that point, no motivation... nothing. I needed to leave my old life behind, leave Daryl behind, and in a way, I felt like the baby knew that... and it decided to stay behind, too." Bay let out a sob and took a moment to gather her bearings and to wipe more tears from her face. "It was what caused the accident. I was doubled over in pain, stumbling about... blood dripping out of my pant leg... The driver that hit me really wasn't to blame. Anyway, I knew it was for the best. I had nothing to offer that baby. I'm okay with it, I made my peace with it, **but **over the years I kept thinking back. The older I got, the more I thought back about what could have been. I tried to imagine what it would have been like, to have a family with Daryl if he would have stayed. I imagined how I would have made it work as a single mom... and in those moments, I found myself missing that baby, Lori. Even though I never met it. And those days sucked." Bay sniffed and grabbed some toilet paper for the both of them to blow their noses. "I'm not judging, Lori. I'm really not. I get it. But you need to think long and hard about what you want and what you can live with. Now and in the future. And you need to talk to Rick. He can help you. You can work it out together. That's what I kept thinking the whole time. 'If only Daryl would have been there...'. He wasn't, but Rick is. Don't shut him out."

"Daryl doesn't know, does he?"

"No. But I will tell him. He deserves to know, even if it's too late to do anything. I promise that I won't tell anyone, it's your own decision, but please just think about what I said."

"I will." Lori nodded and got to her knees. She pulled Bay to her knees as well and hugged the younger women. "I'm so sorry, honey. For what you went through."

"Don't be. It's been a long time. I'm fine now. And you'll be fine, too. It's gonna be alright." The two women hugged a moment longer before they separated and shared a little laugh while they tried to clean up their tear-stained faces.

"Do you think you will get Hershel to let us stay?"

"We'll talk to him. Have faith, Lori. I know it's hard when everything keeps happening at once, but try. He's not heartless, not at all. He just didn't understand,... about the walkers. He will eventually." Bay squeezed Lori's arm and handed her the bag with the pills, trusting the woman to make the right decision for herself.

She was emotionally drained when she finally arrived in the kitchen and started dinner. She was ready for this day to be over, but she knew it would be a while until that happened. It wouldn't be over until Hershel was back home, and it wouldn't be over until she had talked to Daryl. Today was a good a day as any. It already sucked, so why not make it a really sucky day and get it over with? When dinner was about to be done she invited everyone inside to gather around the table. The mood was somber and quiet, but everybody appreciated the warm meal and sitting down at a real table again. They all stopped eating simultaneously when they heard a car pull up outside. Maggie and Beth were outside faster than anyone could blink, while everybody else followed in a hurried walk. Bay breathed deeply in relief when she saw the whole Greene family hugging it out on the steps of the porch. Shane and Rick had found Hershel and had brought him back home. When his daughters released him Hershel looked up at Bay and opened his arms for her. She hugged him hard while he quietly apologized.

"Where were you?" Bay asked even though she was able to smell the alcohol on him.

"We looked in the bar you told us about." Shane told her from behind Hershel. "He had been there alright. Took a couple'a bottles and hit the cemetery."

"Cemetery?"

"I needed to talk to my first wife. I needed to apologize for how I've been treating Maggie since all this happened. I'm sorry for giving you girls a scare, Bay. And I'm sorry for the things I said to you, too You weren't disrespecting Annette. I was. I just tried to help. I really thought we would be able to fix things."

"I'm sorry I wasn't here this morning. I'm sorry it happened this way." She had wanted the barn taken care of, but in a far more civilized manner than what Shane had done.

"Me, too. But there's no use in crying over milk that's already spilled. I see the error of my ways now. 'Love one another'. That's what Annette used to say. It's how she got through dealing with all the hate Maggie had felt towards her after I had married her. Love one another. I think it's even more important these days." Hershel explained and looked over to Rick who had his own family in his arms. The two men shared a nod and Rick spoke up.

"Everybody, get your things inside. Hershel has graciously offered that we can all stay inside the house. Grab what you need, we will take the camp down in the morning."

"It will be a tight fit, but we can make it work for now. In the next week we can try to transform the attic into a nice sleeping space." Hershel said and the girls smiled at him proudly.

"Let's get you inside, Daddy. You have to eat something." Maggie gave him a kiss on the cheek and ushered him inside. The others slowly followed and as Bay went past him, Rick and her shared a look and a nod, and he squeezed her shoulder for a moment. Things would hopefully work out from here on out. They'd all had enough drama to last them a lifetime, but Bay knew for her and Daryl, more drama was yet to come.

* * *

"Get your things and put them in my room. Okay?" Bay told him after the group had dispersed after dinner.

"You sure?"

"Absolutely. Second chance, remember? About time we get on that. But umm... there's something we have to talk about once you're back inside."

"Like what?" he looked at her questioningly.

"Just get your things." She smiled gently and leaned up to kiss his cheek before she went ahead to her room.

Once there she moved some things around and made some space in her closet for him. When he got back with his belongings, she helped him get settled in, which didn't take long at all. He didn't have very much left. Only some clothes and his crossbow and bolts and a small stash of chocolate and snacks.

"So? What's there to talk about?" he asked as soon as they had closed the closet door. Bay rubbed her hands over her face and took a deep breath.

"I didn't tell you the whole story."

"About what?" he asked with a confused expression on his face.

"About my accident."

"Yeah, figured it was way worse than ya said."

"That's not it. I didn't give you the exact cause of the accident."

Daryl stilled and looked at her angrily as his temper flared up. He assumed that she was about to tell him that she had tried to jump off that bridge after all. "Okay, let's hear it." he made a quick come hither motion with his index and middle finger as he stared at her almost challengingly.

"You wanted to know what the doctor had said, right? About that appointment I had the day you left?"

"Yeah. What about it?" he snarled at her, not really getting why she brought that up now. What would that have to do with the damn accident?

"Well, the doctor said that I was pregnant." she told him and saw him freeze as his eyes widened.

"What?" It was a whisper.

"I was pregnant, Daryl. The day you left, I found out that I was carrying your baby."

Daryl was speechless. More than that, he was shell-shocked, probably more than he'd been when he'd first realized that she was alive a couple of days ago. "You were...? But we... "

"...Used condoms religiously after our last faux-pas? Yeah, guess one of those things sprung a damn leak. Ironic, isn't it?" she laughed with a shake of her head.

"Ain't funny." he breathed, still in shock.

"You're right, it isn't. It was even less funny back then. When I came home from that damn appointment and found you gone."

Daryl's mind was racing. So many questions, but one was glaringly obvious and on the forefront. He swallowed hard. "Bay... Where's our baby?" he swallowed once more as tears stung his eyes. "You get rid of it?" he asked, his voice laced with sadness and accusations alike.

"When you left it destroyed me, Daryl. I didn't do anything but cry. Lay in our bed and cry. I didn't go to work anymore, lost both jobs. I didn't cook anymore and started wasting away. I didn't care about anything but getting out of that godforsaken town. I had a miscarriage. Right on Murray Bridge. I lost our baby, Daryl... The pain was too much,... the baby didn't survive it." Bay explained calmly and watched Daryl starting to pace like a trapped animal with his fists clenched by his sides. "Merle didn't just take you away from me, Daryl. He didn't just take my money and my future away... His actions ultimately took that baby away, too. He took both of our lives, Daryl. Or the lives of all three of us. Yours, mine, the baby's... I mean, looking back now... it's okay... it was better like th-"

"No!" Daryl suddenly interrupted her forcefully. "Don't you dare say it was better like that, don't you fucking dare say it, Bay!" Tears started to roll down his face as he kept pacing back and forth helplessly, wanting to kill someone, wanting to trash something, but not being able to let out his aggressions. He threaded his fingers of both hands through his hair and pulled hard. "Why didn't I say no? Why didn't I say fucking no? We lost everything because of him. We lost eleven years. We lost a whole life, we lost a kid just because I was too much of a fucking coward to tell him no!" He kicked her bed, making her jump, before he turned to face her and look at her. He was crying and his eyes were full of despair. "Our baby, Bay. I made you lose our baby. We could have had it all. We would have made it work. I would have taken care of the both of you. We could have moved to a better town. We talked about Chattanooga once... maybe Ellijay... somewhere nice... We would have made it work. It's what we always used to do." Daryl cried.

"I know." Bay said, and her telling him that she knew it would have been alright, made him cry even harder. He dropped to his knees in front of Bay, hugging her waist and crying into her belly. The flood gates opened and he was finally able to let all of it out. He cried for all that they had lost, finally mourning properly for the first time since it had all happened. Bay let him cry and gently played with his hair while his tears soaked her top.

"I ruined everything. I let **him** ruin everything." Daryl sobbed miserably. "How can ya even stand to fucking look at me?"

"I had years to deal with it. I'm okay about the baby. It really was better this way Daryl. Together we could have made it work, but I wasn't able to do it alone. Merle left me with nothing. It was better, Daryl, believe me. Things would have been different with you there, but with the situation I was in,... There was just no way to make it work."

"There's always a way." Daryl sniffed stubbornly.

"That time there wasn't. It happened. There was nothing anybody could have done. It just happened, Daryl. I just thought you should know. You should know the full extent of the damage your brother caused."

"Wasn't just him. It was me, too."

"It was." Bay agreed brutally honest. "But ultimately, he was the one who put everything in motion, because he's never been able to get his act together. The two of us paid the price."

"I dunno how you can stand to be around me after all that." he said again as he knelt on the floor and wiped at his eyes with the back of his hands.

"You fucked up, Daryl. It hurt, and it still does, but talking to you and my family made me realize that you did what you did, because you thought it would protect me. The rest was just unfortunate. You had no way of knowing I was pregnant. If you had, I know that you would have stayed, no matter what Merle would have said. You wouldn't have left me alone. I wouldn't have been alone if I had stayed in Dalton after you left, but then again I had no way of knowing that you would come back... We have a chance of making things right now. I mean, what were the odds of us ever seeing each other again? Especially with this outbreak happening? The good Lord obviously has some kind of plan for us... we never lost our feelings for each other... right?" Bay looked at him questioningly and when he nodded she smiled slightly. "I guess He wants us to try again. And I want to try again, too. We were good together, we just let other people get in the way. This time we have to be stronger than we were back then."

"We will be." he promised fiercely.

"I hope so." she smiled and tugged on his arms to get him up from the floor. When they sat on her bed together, she gently wiped at his wet cheeks with her thumbs. "Are you okay?"

"Gotta be." he laughed sarcastically.

"It's okay if you're not. It's a lot to take in. It wasn't just me who lost a lot. It was you, too. I just never saw it that way before."

Daryl nodded and dropped on his back. Bay followed and snuggled herself into his uninjured side, still a bit tentatively.

"How far along were you? When it happened?" Daryl stared at the ceiling, his mind was in the past, seeing her with a big round belly, lounging on the sofa-bed in their old apartment.

"Just about two months. It was just a little dark spot on a screen. Barely visible."

"It was our kid, Bay. Barely visible or not." Daryl's heart was hurting. They could have had a family by now. A real, honest to God family. "Do you know if it was a boy or girl?"

"No. It was way too early for that. And honestly, back then I didn't even care."

"Would be ten years old now. Like Sophia and Carl. Maybe he or she would have gone to school with one of 'em..."

"Daryl, stop. Wondering about all those things don't get you anywhere. It just makes you hurt and feel bad. We can't change what happened." Bay told him and gently rubbed his shirt-covered chest with her warm hand.

"Imma find that little girl. Ain't losin' another one." he vowed after a moment of silence.

"Taking Maggie with you again?"

"No, I'm better on my own. I know where the houses are now. Don't need her to slow me down again."

"Rick doesn't want anyone going out alone anymore. And I have to agree." Bay was still rattled from the first time they brought an unconscious Daryl into the house.

"Don't care. I'm faster by myself and I need ta be fast. We're losing too much damn time." Daryl's tone of voice left no room for discussion, and Bay acquiesced.

"Just be careful. How are your wounds doing anyway?" She pulled away from him and sat up. "Show me." she said, but she didn't wait for him to unbutton his shirt. She carefully straddled one of his thighs and opened the buttons herself. Daryl bit his lip while he watched her, and he reflexively sucked in his stomach, when her fingers glided over his skin along the waistband of his pants and up to the exit wound of the bolt. "Looks good." she murmured before her eyes swept over the newly revealed skin. When they had been in the shower together, she hadn't paid too much attention to how his front looked,.. well, apart from his swollen length. She smirked and gently tickled his belly a little. "Still like your beer, huh?" She teased him good-naturedly and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fat and you're still fucking pretty. Got it." he grumbled with narrowed eyes. "But ya still got these!" he reached up and grabbed her love handles that had never gone away, no matter how much she had worked out or starved herself. Those things stayed firmly put.

"Yeah, but now we match." she giggled and grabbed his new set of love handles, making him wince, when her touching them tugged on his sutures.

"Oww... shit. Watch it, girl." he complained gruffly, but he gently removed her hands from his sides and linked them with his.

"I'm sorry." she was still giggling, giving the impression that she wasn't really all that sorry.

"Ya never used to laugh at my pain before." he complained again and let himself be pulled into a sitting position by Bay tugging on their linked hands.

"Aww... Did I hurt your feelings?" she had to laugh at his grumpy expression. He looked like a pouting little boy and it was adorable. She nuzzled his nose and kissed the tip of it softly. "You look good, Daryl. Really, really good. I was just teasing you."

"Yeah right." he scoffed, but this time the corners of his mouth were turned up in a tiny smile, showing her that he wasn't really offended. The smile didn't reach his eyes, however.

"I'm serious. Not that it's important to me, but you **do **look wonderful. Even all dirty and exhausted." She smoothed his growing bangs away from his forehead and looked at him for a moment. "Weird day, huh? A lot happened... a lot to take in."

"Yeah. Some heavy shit you just told me." he took his hands off her waist and rubbed them over his face. "Can't stop thinking about it. Why was that the cause of the accident? I don't get it."

"I was in a lot of pain. I lost my momentum, kept stumbling around in the dark, I guess. That's why the guy hit me with his car."

"How bad was it really? And don't bullshit me." he said as he looked at the scar on her arm pointedly.

"It wasn't pretty. Like I said, brain swelling, coma, broken bones... I was messed up for a while. Took a couple of months and good care from Annette and Hershel to have me back on my feet. Lots of physical therapy, too. Don't look at me like that Daryl." she was practically able to see that he started blaming himself for it again. "It wasn't your fault. And it's in the past now. Let's try to leave it behind us now. We have enough to worry about in the present."

"Pfff, tell me about it." he smiled a little, making her smile widen in return. "Good thing the farmer came around, though."

"It is. He doesn't want Shane too close to him, but at least he finally realized what's really happening and he's dealing with it. Progress."

"Yeah, I guess." Daryl mumbled around biting on his lip. Bay noticed that he had been doing that more frequently these days, than he had back in the day. The restlessness inside of him must have increased over the years.

Bay yawned and decided that it was finally time to call it a night. "Well, you know the deal. You wanna sleep in this bed, you better go clean up first." she told Daryl, and laughed when he groaned.

"I'm fucking tired, Bay."

"Better hurry up then."

"Gonna help me again?"

"Nope. I'm gonna change and slip into bed and wait for you. Just go wash up real quick. You can shower tomorrow when you get back." Bay yawned a second time and climbed off the bed.

"Fine." Daryl sighed and got up himself and went to the bathroom to freshen up a bit. When he came back the only light in the room came from a candle on her nightstand. One of those cemetery candles you didn't have to watch too much while they burned down. A bit morbid maybe, but these days you made do with what you were able to get. Daryl had a weird sense of deja-vu when he spotted her laying in bed with a smile, waiting for him to join her. _Just like back then. _It finally made a full smile appear on his tired face. He took off his clothes, except for his black boxer briefs, and went over to the bed. She lifted the covers for him, and he saw that she was just wearing a tank top and panties. _Just like back then, too. _It was weird in a way, to be in this situation with her again, just many years later. So much had changed, but then again nothing really had. There was still some hesitancy between them. Some awkwardness they had also shared when they had done this for the very first time. This would be their second first time. Even though it might have sounded silly, they really were Bay and Daryl 2.0,... new and (maybe) improved versions that had to figure out how to get back into the swing of things.

"Hey..." she whispered with a smile. She was just as nervous as he was. This was really happening. It wasn't a dream.

"Hey." he rasped quietly as he laid down on his side, facing her and keeping pressure off the entry wound on his back.

"Mmmmm..." she moaned appreciatively when she smelled toothpaste and soap on him. "You smell good."

He gave a little grunt in reply, not knowing what to respond. _You smell good, too. Nah, sounds fucking stupid. _Goosebumps broke out on his skin when he felt her fingertips trail over his chest again. This time around she seemed to be quite fascinated by the tattoo. She was tracing her name with her fingers once again. He was slightly embarrassed when his nipples tightened almost painfully from just that little touch, poking into the heel of her hand every other moment when she moved her hand lower. Like that wasn't torture enough, she leaned in a moment later and let him feel her lips on his skin. Daryl watched her kiss his chest in the dim, flickering glow of the candlelight. Her lips were burning him, marking him and re-claiming him as her own, as they traveled along the lines of her name. He enjoyed her ministrations for a moment, but he wasn't able to wait much longer. She was stoking a fire inside of him and it was about to erupt into big, bright flames. He wanted her lips on his when that happened. He slid his hand up her arm and to the back of her neck, exerting gentle pressure, making her look up at him. "C'mere..." his deep voice sent shivers down her spine. She obeyed immediately and lifted her head up towards his. They had waited long enough.

There was nothing awkward or tentative about their first kiss after eleven years of being apart. Their mouths pressed together in several hard and long, open-mouthed kisses, full of need and longing. Daryl grabbed her leg by the back of her knee and hooked it over his hip before he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her flush against his body. Bay moaned at all the new sensations. The kisses were familiar, but yet so very different. His facial hair scratched her pleasantly while they kissed and she felt much smaller than she ever had when they had been together, because his frame was larger, bulkier and stronger. Her palms no longer rubbed over smooth skin, but over coarse chest hair and well-toned pecs. The differences excited her greatly and she couldn't wait to explore all of him anew. She giggled when he bit down on her bottom lip and tugged with a low growl; she had always loved that. The giggle quickly turned into a gasp, when finally, his tongue slipped into her mouth and gently prodded hers. Bay and Daryl both moaned when their tongues started swirling and massaging, the kiss growing more ardent and passionate as they both pressed against each other like they were trying to melt together and share one body. His hands slid underneath the cotton fabric of her white tank top, his fingertips digging into her flesh possessively and his blunt nails raking down her back, having moan and her arch into him even more.

"Never leavin' ya 'gain. Ya hear?" Daryl panted when they came up for air a long, long while later. "Gon' have to kill me if ya want rid of me."

"Sounds good to me." Bay grinned before she slanted her lips over his again and made him moan by curling her tongue around his and in turn, making his toes curl.

They made out like they were teenagers again, and that's all they did that night. Just kissing and reconnecting, getting used to being in each others personal space again. It had been one hell of a long day for both of them and they still had a lot to process. They fell asleep tightly hugging each other about an hour later, and Daryl was up again at first light, getting ready to check the houses for Sophia.

"Bay... I'm going out." he crouched down next to the bed and whispered to her when he was fully dressed.

"Alright. Please be careful." she murmured still half-asleep with closed eyes.

"Always am." he smiled and kissed her forehead before he tugged the covers up to her shoulders, so she wouldn't get cold.

* * *

Bay was in the best mood she had ever been in while living on the farm. After waking up and still smelling Daryl on her pillow, she went downstairs with a smile and wanted to fix breakfast. But Lori and Carol were already taking care of it and greeted her with a smile.

"Good morning, Bay. Sleep well?" Carol asked with a little smile. She was in better spirits after Daryl had found Sophia's doll the previous day.

"I slept very well. Thank you." Bay smiled and couldn't help what she said next. "Daryl is simply the best and most comfortable pillow out there. Always has been." she needed to make sure Carol knew who Daryl belonged to. Carol gave her a genuine smile, not showing a hint of jealousy or awkwardness, and it made Bay feel like an ass.

"It's great that you two found each other again." Carol smiled. "It might be just what Daryl needs. He's very closed off. I don't think he thinks of himself as a good person. I guess you can help with that."

"Yeah, I can." Bay smiled tightly. Carol was a nice person and Bay really liked her, but she was not yet comfortable with Carol caring about Daryl, even though Daryl deserved having a ton of people care about him, and not just her. It was something she would have to get used to. Until then she would try to swallow down her jealousy. Daryl was the one who put the most effort into finding Sophia. Bay was sure it was what had Carol being affectionate towards him and fond of him. He is using him a bit as an emotional crutch, which Bay did understand, but she hoped it wouldn't go further than that in the future. "How did you guys sleep?" Bay asked the women.

"Great." Lori smiled. "I slept better knowing that everyone was safe and not out there."

"I can imagine. You need help with anything?"

"No, you just go ahead and sit down Bay. You, Maggie, Beth and Hershel, you work hard enough. Let us take care of breakfast for you. Sit with your family and have a coffee. We're just about done." Carol gentle ushered her towards the dining area.

"Alright. Thanks. I could get used to that." Bay laughed and went over to the dining table, where Andrea was sitting with her family. Dale was outside doing a round around the farm to check for walkers and would join them later. Rick and Shane were out looking for Sophia, just like Daryl was.

They all greeted each other and Bay plopped down on a chair next to Andrea. "Hey Andrea. You look good today." Bay smiled before she realized what she had said. "I mean, not that you didn't look good before... I just meant..."

"That I'm finally clean?" The other woman laughed. "I finally got to take a shower this morning. I had forgotten how good it felt to be completely clean and not a sweaty mess first thing in the morning."

"I can't even imagine what that's like. Judging from how filthy Daryl was, you guys must have had a rough time out there." Bay said while she filled her mug with coffee and milk.

"Oh, you can't compare us to Daryl. He's always the dirtiest. I don't know how he does it. He must be rolling on the ground in the mud or something." Andrea explained while she sipped her hot coffee.

"Really? Funny... he used to love his baths." Bay smiled while she remembered how much they both had always enjoyed them. "Maybe because he can't have them now he's just saying 'Screw it, I'm never getting clean again.' My father used to be like that. For his haircuts, he went to this guy called Al all his life. Really, the guy gave him his first haircut ever when he was still a baby, and my Dad kept going to him for like 40 years until Al died. From that moment on he never went to get his hair cut again. He wouldn't let anyone but Al touch his hair, so he let it grow. Looked like a damn hippie." Bay laughed at the memory of how her father had refused to go get his hair cut by somebody else. Her mother and grandmother had practically begged him on their knees. It was a funny memory from a time when things had still been good.

"Oh my God, really? What is it with men and change?" Andrea laughed. "They truly are still little boys, even when they are old. All of them. Who used to give Daryl his haircuts? That person is probably gone too by now. Might have another hippie on your hands, Bay."

"I would love that." Bay grinned. "He had kinda long hair when we met."

"What? Seriously?" Andrea had a hard time imagining Daryl with long hair, but then again, she had a hard time imagining a younger and sweeter version of the mono-syllabic hunter as well.

"Yes. And really really blond. Don't know why it's darker now, I don't think he ever dyed it. It would be awesome if he would let it grow out. I loved his longer hair. I miss it."

"Do you have a picture?" Beth piped up. Everyone else had listened to the conversation and she was curious what Daryl had looked like back then.

"Unfortunately no. I had a couple back then, but I'm afraid that whoever has my bag also has the pictures."

"Too bad." Andrea smiled. "That's something I really would have liked to see. I think everybody is a little curious about him. He seems like such an enigma. I was surprised about how nice he was when we were out in the woods. Even smiled a little."

"I keep hearing that." Bay laughed. "That he's closed off and mean, but that's really not who I used to know. I think it will take some time, but eventually you guys will meet the Daryl I used to be with. Everything that happened with me and Merle... it just did a number on him, but the old Daryl is still in there. You just wait."

"With you around, I'm sure it will happen." Andrea winked.

"I sure hope so." Bay said before Lori and Carol finally brought in the food and the group started to eat.

* * *

After lunch Bay helped Hershel and Rick, who had returned right before lunch from his search with Shane, clean the attic a little while the others took down the tents outside.

"Someone's happy today." Rick commented on Bay's good mood with a smile.

"I think this is the happiest I've ever seen you, Bayanne." Hershel sent a little smile her way. "The young man is lifting your spirits, I see."

"You and Daryl work things out?" Rick asked after sharing a knowing look with the vet.

"I think we are getting there." Bay replied with a happy sigh. "I told him **everything.**" she told Hershel, making him look at her in surprise.

"Really? Everything? That's good. Honesty is always good. How is he dealing with it?"

"He was sad, but I think he will use his trip out to the houses today to deal with it. It's how it works for him. Being outside and getting a clear head always helps him."

Rick stopped sweeping and looked at Bay and Hershel with interest. "Now, why do I get the feeling that you didn't tell me **everything** when you told me your story, Bay?"

"Because I didn't." she laughed. "Gotta save some talking points for later." she winked at him and nudged his elbow as she carried a box past him and out of the attic.

Rick shook his head with a laugh before he looked at Hershel. "I might have only known her for a week, but it's good to see her so happy. She seems like someone who deserves it. Hope she will infect Daryl with that. I think he could use some of that, too."

"She's been through a lot in her young life. I usually do not enjoy seeing my girls with male suitors, but Bay is different. Whether she wants to admit it or not, but she's pined for that boy for a decade. Never looked at another man all the time she's been here. It's good that he's back and that they are working on getting their relationship back. I could get used to see her smile more often."

"Yeah." Rick nodded thoughtfully. "Who knows, maybe from now on we will all have more things to smile about again."

"We shall hope so." Hershel agreed and followed Bay out of the attic with another box.

Rick took a moment to look around. Hope. He finally had some of that again. This farm and the people here truly were a blessing. Now that Hershel was on their side and was letting them stay, they could work on making this place even safer. They could help the Greenes with their work load and they could go on organized runs to stock up on supplies before stores in the area got picked over by other survivors... if there were any. Rick had high hopes for this place. He hoped that it would now become a true home for him, Lori, Carl and their extended, dysfunctional little family, but he knew that only time would tell.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**I think some of you got some answers you've been waiting for. Bay's confession probably wasn't much of a surprise to a lot of you, right? Did I break your hearts? If so, I'm very sorry.**

**Thank you so so much for all your wonderful reviews. Once again I am ashamed because I didn't get to reply. It's been hell around my house because my son now refuses to take naps. So 12.5 hour days with a toddler and no break = no fun and lots of exhaustion. Unfortunately it also means no writing time for me. Gotta squeeze it in whenever I can from now on. Chapter 28 is already in the works and I hope to have it out by the weekend. Thank you again, for all your kind words and support. Please don't ever stop, even if I'm horrible about replying lately. Keeping this short again, because I'm about to hit the sack at 7pm, like a damn grandma. Grrrr. Lots of love to you guys, I love and appreciate you all very, very, very much!**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

Daryl was plowing through the woods as fast as his feet would carry him. Unfortunately, he had a tough time doing so. It had rained during the night and the ground was muddy and slippery. He had lost his footing twice while crawling up a small hill, and therefore, he was wet and dirty already. He knew no matter how tired he would be upon his return, Bay would personally drag him into the bathroom and force him to clean himself. No way would she allow him into her bed with mud-caked arms and hair. The thought made the corners of his mouth turn up just a little bit. _If she ain't too tired, maybe she'll get in the bathtub with me again. Without clothes this time. Or maybe jus' in her underwear. No bra maybe? She hates those things. _He had already noticed in the past couple of days, that Bay hadn't worn one around the farm. It had always been funny to him how she had used to be so shy about sex and everything, but she had never really had a big problem with nudity or with her nipples poking through her top while she had been outside and some guys had stared.

_'Oh please, like those guys are looking at me.' _She had always laughed it off when Daryl had pointed out that some people were looking. She had never believed that guys did indeed pay attention to her, especially to bouncing breasts and perky nipples. She had been gloriously oblivious to that fact, often to Daryl's dismay. She believed too much in the good of people, not realizing that not everybody had innocence about them like she had. It hadn't changed and he was sure that the guys in camp had already gotten an eyeful in the past week. That's why he didn't like when people got all touchy-feely with her. He knew how disgusting guys could be, he was one himself and he remembered very well what he had thought about when he had seen her go bra-less before they had started dating. Hell, he was thinking those kind of things right now. The image of her naked and straddling his lap while he caught her nipples between his teeth and pulled at them until they snapped free again, having her let out squeaky moans, kept replaying over and over inside his head. He knew it would be tough to get some time alone, though. Especially now that the house was full to the brim with people. Maggie seemed to take insane pleasure in interrupting them, but at least nobody had interrupted their kissing last night. Thank God for small luxuries. They would need a couple of hours to themselves soon though. They had a lot of catching up to do. She had already seen him naked and had seen how he had changed, now he couldn't wait to explore the changes her body might have gone through. He was curious if she was still into the same things and if sex would be different now that they were older.

Finally he had reached the houses again and he shook off all thoughts of Bay and her naked body. It was time to focus and be on top of his game. Searching the houses could be a dangerous job and he had no backup whatsoever. He searched the two houses from the previous day again. There was always a chance that she might have gone there after Maggie and him had left, but the houses were still empty except for the walkers they had taken out. Daryl searched five houses right along the edge of the woods. If Sophia was around, he didn't think that she would leave this area, but that she would go for one of the first houses she could find instead. Surprisingly, the houses weren't as swarmed as he thought they would be. People around here seemed to have evacuated for the most part. It was good for him and maybe good for Sophia.

He entered the sixth house with his crossbow raised, carefully checking the rooms on the lower level. While he checked out the dining room his finely tuned ears picked up a creak coming from the kitchen. He quickly turned around and walked there on silent feet. A weird smell hit him when he entered the kitchen. _Kinda fishy._ He sniffed the air and looked around. He inched closer to the trash can as soon as he had spotted it, the smell of fish getting stronger the closer he got. There on top of other empty cans was a half eaten can of tuna, and from the smell of it, it seemed freshly opened. He squinted his eyes and looked around the kitchen, looking for something that stood out. He'd heard a noise from in here, so either a walker was in here or another person. His bet was on another living human being, because as far as he knew, walkers didn't know how to open cans.

"Sophia?" he called out, but not loud enough to alert walkers that might be lurking upstairs. "Sophia?"

"H-here..." Daryl got the shock of his life when he heard the quiet timid voice coming from somewhere near the floor. For a moment he thought he imagined it. Had he really found her?

"Sophia? Where ya at?" He looked around and opened the door to the pantry, when he heard the creak from earlier behind him. He saw the door of the cupboard under the sink open to reveal a pale and weak, but alive Sophia.

"Mr. Dixon?" she sounded weak too, but also relieved when she spotted the crossbow-wielding hunter. Daryl went over there and crouched down.

"Whatchu hidin' in here for girl? This is small even for you." It probably wasn't the right thing to say to a girl who'd been on her own for a week, but he'd never been the most socially competent.

"My Mom told me to always hide under the sink. She said Daddy would never look for me there, because that's where the cleaning supplies are." Sophia told him, and only then Daryl noticed that her breathing was pretty shallow.

"Smart girl. You hurtin'?"

"I hurt my leg, jumping down a tree. I lost my doll." Tears started to roll down her face. She was so relieved to see a familiar face, even if he had never been nice to her before, and she hoped he would take her to her Mom fast.

"Come on out, lemme see." He helped her and carefully pulled her out and set her on the floor butt first before he slowly pulled out her legs. Sophia's left leg was swollen and bruised and she was hissing and wincing as soon as he touched it. He feared it might be broken. "Alright. Imma splint this so it don't move around too much while I carry ya. Stay put." he told her and looked around for supplies he would be able to use. He laid one of the chairs around the dining table on the floor and stomped on the two front chair legs until they fell off. Next he snatched the dirty old tablecloth and tore it into several strips with which he would keep the wooden chair legs in place. "Ain't gonna lie, girl. This is gonna hurt a bit. You gotta help me out, too. You gotta hold this and this while I tie the cloth around it." he put the chair legs on either side of her injured limb and made her hold them in place. Daryl then wrapped the strips of table cloth around the makeshift contraption and pulled them tight, making the girl cry out in pain. "Almost done. You're doin' good." he tried to console her, although he was sure he was crappy at it. He tied four strips around her leg, making sure that everything was tight and wouldn't budge, then he helped her up and slipped his arm and head through the strap of his crossbow, so the weapon would rest against his chest instead of his back this time. He would have to carry Sophia back piggy-back-style the whole way. It would be a bitch, but it sure would be worth it when mother and daughter would reunite in a couple of hours.

He realized just how much of a bitch it would be after he had taken just a couple of steps with Sophia on his back. His own wounds were still a bit tender and Sophia pressing against it from the back and the splint banging against it in the front, were no fun at all. He hoped that Bay would have some of those painkillers left for him once they would be back at the farm. A couple of kisses wouldn't hurt either.

* * *

If all of them would be brutally honest, then all of them would admit that they didn't have high hopes for Sophia's survival. Especially not after it has been a whole week since she had gone missing. Before Daryl had brought back Sophia's doll and had promised her that he would find her daughter soon, even Carol had doubted deep down that Sophia would still be alive. So that day, shortly after lunch, as Dale looked out into the field towards the woods through his binoculars, he thought he might be dreaming. For a long moment he was sure that he was imagining Daryl Dixon walking towards the farm with the little girl on his back. Dale blinked a couple of times, but lo and behold, it was true. A huge smile broke out on the old man's face and he climbed down the ladder of the RV as quickly as possible and jogged towards the house.

"He found her! Daryl has Sophia! Carol! Your daughter's here!" he yelled at the top of his lungs as soon as he had opened the front door, thus alerting everybody in the house.

"What?" Carol reflexively pressed her hand against her heart as she rushed towards the door with tears in her eyes.

"Yes, you heard me. Go, go, go!" Dale ushered her out the door with a smile.

"Are you for real? He found her? They're coming? She's alive?" Glenn, Maggie, Bay, T-Dog, Lori, Carl... they were all talking at once and stumbling over each other on their way to follow Carol. Nobody knew why, but they all ran out into the field towards the pair. Everybody wanted to see this particular miracle with their own eyes and witness mother and daughter reunite.

When Daryl saw Carol running towards them with everybody else following her, he stopped walking and dropped to his knees. It looked like he wanted to help Sophia get off his back easier, but the truth was, that he was fucking exhausted and he was in pain. Sophia started sobbing when she saw her mother, and tried to run towards her, but was quickly reminded of her injured leg. She yelped and it made Daryl look over and try to steady her just before Carol dropped to her knees in front of her daughter and hugged her hard.

"Sophia... my little girl... oh Sophia." Carol was barely able to talk, she was sobbing so hard and Sophia wasn't doing much better.

"Watch her leg." Daryl panted, but Carol didn't pay any attention to him in that moment. The others stopped running and watched Carol and Sophia hug and cry, with big smiles on their faces and tears of their own stinging their eyes. Bay kept jogging towards Daryl until she got on her knees in front of him, and cradled his face in her hands. She knew him better than anyone and she could see that he wasn't doing well. She was proud of him, though. Very, very proud and she couldn't help it when she pressed her lips against his for a hard and long kiss. In that moment Daryl was too tired to protest and he knew the attention wasn't on them anyway, so he let her and enjoyed it for as long as it lasted. Well, he thought the attention wasn't on them, but the sight of Bay kissing Daryl was just as astounding to the group as the reunion between mother and believed-to-be-dead daughter. Good thing Daryl didn't notice that though, or he would have blushed furiously. Then again, the mud might have kept the redness hidden.

"Let's get you inside." Bay whispered against his lips.

"We gotta carry her in. I think her leg's broke." Daryl pointed towards Sophia.

"I got her." Rick's voice sounded right next to them, making both their heads snap up in surprise. "Come on, Sophia. Let's get you checked out. We have a doctor here. He can help your leg get better." Carol helped lift Sophia safely into Rick's arms while Bay let Daryl use her for support to get himself up. As soon as he was upright, Carol was on him and hugging him hard. Daryl raised his hands defensively and staggered back a step or two, not comfortable with receiving hugs from someone that was not Bay. It was selfish and asshole-ish of her, but Bay enjoyed that reaction very much. She would confess her selfish thoughts to the Lord on Sunday and pray for forgiveness, because she was being a bit of a bitch, but shit... it just felt good to know that only she was allowed to touch him in a more intimate way.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. I can never thank you enough." Carol cried against his shoulder, while Daryl was squirming and ready to have her let go.

"It's alright. It's what we do. Ain't asshole enough to leave a lil' girl behind." Daryl mumbled uncomfortably with his hands resting strictly by his side, not hugging the grateful woman back.

"You did so much for her... Thank you. Thank you." she kept repeating over and over while she looked up at him now. Bay finally cleared her throat and stepped in to put Daryl out of his misery.

"Come on, guys. Let's get inside. Your daughter needs you and Daryl needs to eat and rest a while." Bay unceremoniously took Daryl's hand and gently pulled him behind her towards the house, making Carol let go of him and follow them.

* * *

"You ain't gonna make me take a shower now, are ya?" Daryl groaned quietly as they moved up the stairs to her room.

"No. I'll put an old blanket over the sheets for now so you can rest and shower later." she said and as soon as they were in her room she went to the closet and got an old blanket out of the bottom of the closet. It had a couple of holes in them which she had wanted to mend, but had never gotten around to it. She spread it out and covered the bed with it before Daryl sat down on the edge. Bay knelt in front of him and pushed up his pant legs in order to untie his boots. Warmth filled Daryl when he watched her help him. It was obvious in her actions that she still had feelings for him. It had him ready to maybe start praying and thanking the Lord himself. He was truly amazed by the fact that she still loved him. Bay had enough forgiveness inside of her for a whole fucking town. She was his own little miracle. Big miracle, actually, just packed into a tiny body with the cutest love handles you would ever see. The thought made him grin internally, but his expression didn't give that happiness away at all. He looked really tired and was too exhausted to even smile right now. Bay took off his boots and put them on the floor by the foot of the bed. Then she looked up at him and softly kissed him once more. "I'm so proud of you." she smiled against his lips. "Did you rip your stitches?"

"BAY! I need you!" Hershel's voice boomed up the stairs before Daryl was able to reply.

"Damn." Bay sighed. "Gotta go help out. You just rest, okay? I'll have Maggie bring you up something to eat. The chicken from lunch is still warm I think."

"Alright. Don't think my stitches ripped. Just got banged up a little." Daryl groaned as he laid down on the bed. "Hey, got some more of those painkillers by any chance?" He asked when she was halfway out the door.

"In my nightstand." Bay replied before she left and closed the door behind her.

Daryl reached over and pulled open the drawer with some difficulty. It felt like it was slightly stuck, but with a sharp tug, he was able to slide it out all the way. He stuck his hand in and blindly rummaged through the contents, which he knew, weren't too many, since he'd taken a peek in there before. That's why he frowned in surprise, when his fingers were met with several objects, that felt like small boxes. He grabbed one of them and pulled them out and held it up to his eyes. _Trojan Magnum._ His eyes widened and his head snapped up from the pillow, so he could take a look inside that drawer. He almost laughed incredulously when he saw a lot of boxes of condoms stuffed into the drawer. So many, that it barely closed anymore. Those definitely hadn't been there before. _That why ya wanted to go to the pharmacy so bad, baby girl? Shit... Looks like you got all kinds of plans... Fuck, sweetheart. Ain't gonna leave this room for a while once we get to it. _This time the grin showed on the outside as well, and he shook his head with a little chuckle. He really had succeeded in corrupting his good little girl back in the day. He'd helped her in getting a bit of a beautifully dirty mind, and it looks like it had stuck. _Hope you're ready, Bay. Got a lot of catching up to do. You ain't gonna know what hit ya._ Daryl stuffed the condom boxes back into the drawer and took out the pain pills before slamming the nightstand shut again. He swallowed the pills dry, because he didn't have any water yet, and laid back down. He was beat and fell asleep quickly, not even noticing when Beth came in with a tray. The girl quietly left it on the nightstand and closed the curtains to darken the room a bit, before she tip-toed back out. Beth hadn't talked to Daryl yet, but she already liked him, because he was making Bay happy. She had never seen her smile so much in one day, despite everything that was going on, and she really really liked it.

* * *

Hershel deducted that Sophia's leg wasn't broken, but badly sprained. It was painful, but with a lot of rest and good care it would heal quickly and she would be walking around again soon. Now she was resting comfortably in the guest room, where Carl had healed up in the past week. He was doing much better and had graciously given up the comfy bed, so that Sophia could now have her turn and sleep in the soft bed after days of sleeping curled up in that tiny cupboard with the pipes of the sink sharing her space. After they had taken care of Sophia, Bay had ventured into the kitchen to make a sandwich for the girl. She hadn't eaten much in the past week and they would start slow and get her digestion used to more and better food again, so a sandwich with a bit of strawberry jam it was for now. Once finished, Bay handed the plate over to Hershel, who took it into the guest room along with a glass of water and some pain medication for the young girl. Bay watched him leave before her gaze shifted back to the window in front of her. In the distance she spied Lori and Rick. She wasn't able to see too much, but it didn't look like they were having a very nice chat. It looked a lot like arguing, judging by the way arms where being thrown up in the air in exasperation. Bay guessed that Lori was talking to Rick about the pregnancy and about whatever she had decided to do about it. She really hoped that the two of them would be able to work it out. She might not have known them long, but they seemed like a good and strong family. It would be a pity to see it fall apart. Babies are usually joyful news, but in times like these? Yeah, there was a lot of factors to take into account which would influence the decisions that had to be made about keeping the child or not. Bay was glad that it wasn't her in Lori's shoes. She suddenly remembered what the doctors had told her after she had woken up from her coma. After her miscarriage they had done a small surgical procedure on her. They had called it a curettage. Basically they had scraped out her uterus with a sharp instrument, removing "leftovers" from the pregnancy. What if Lori would force a miscarriage. Or what if she decided to have the baby and would miscarry anyway? Would she need that procedure? If so, was Hershel supposed to do it? This was not a procedure that was practiced in animals. For them they used a chemical irritation technique with an infusion of an iodine preparation. Would that work on humans? Would they really want to find out?

"Gosh, this is a nightmare!" Bay shook her head with a deep sigh as all the horrible possibilities flooded her mind.

"What is?"

"Oh God, Carl!" Bay jumped when the boy had spoken up right next to her. She had been so deep in thought that she hadn't heard him come in.

"Sorry." he giggled. He thought startling adults was tons of fun. "Have you seen my parents?"

"Oh, um... I think they are outside. I'm sure they'll be back inside soon. Wanna play something until then? Go Fish? We can ask Beth to join us." Bay suggested and led the boy away from the window before he would be able to see his parents arguing out by the field.

"Yeah. Can we play with Sophia, too?"

"I think she needs to sleep a little first, Carl. She's very tired."

"Is Daryl your superhero now?"

Bay laughed at that. Kids asked the best questions. "He is. Always has been,... always will be." _With a few exceptions, of course. _She thought with a smile. Nobody was perfect, not her and not even Daryl, although she had always liked to think that he was.

* * *

The game of Go Fish Beth, Bay and Carl started playing also attracted Glenn and Andrea. Laughter soon floated through the house from the merry group of five, making a small smile appear on the face of everybody who was able to hear it. Now that Sophia has been found, they could fully take care of stocking up on supplies and securing the area as best as possible, as well as helping the Greene family with the daily workload. They all hoped for a breather and good times ahead. As good as it could get in these circumstances. Soon Dale joined them with a cup of coffee and just watched and enjoyed seeing the young people have fun. It hadn't been that long since the quarry camp and since laughter had been shared around the campfire, but it seemed like it had been years. They all had aged years within the past month it seemed. Life on the road, facing all those new dangers everyday probably did that to people. Now they were able to relax a little, and that felt good.

"Alright people, I'm out. I'm gonna check on Daryl." Bay smiled after she had been surprised to find out that they had played for two hours.

"Everything okay?" Andrea asked with a frown. She hadn't noticed that the redneck had been in pain earlier.

"Yeah. He just wasn't completely healed and carrying Sophia all the way back aggravated his injuries a little. He's resilient, though. I bet he'll be up and running like nothing happened once he wakes up." Bay explained with a smile and then left the room while the others started a new round of the card game.

She climbed the stairs and went to her room, quietly opening the door and peeking inside. She smiled when Daryl looked up at her sleepily, and entered the room.

"I'm sorry. Did I wake you?" she didn't know why she was whispering, but she was.

"Nah, woke up a couple minutes ago." Daryl said and rubbed his eyes.

"Feel better?"

"Yeah. Just need a moment to wake up. That's why I don't take fucking naps. Always have a hard time waking up from those."

"You needed one today."

"Ain't arguin' about that. Jus' the waking up part that sucks." he rasped while he still kept the heels of his hands pressed against his eyes.

"Do you want some coffee, baby?" Bay asked affectionately as she traced her fingertips over his scruffy jawline.

That made Daryl remove his hands from his eyes to look up with her with a surprised frown. "Baby? You ever call me that before?"

"Does it matter?" Bay laughed with a shrug. He could be too cute for this world, even as a grown ass man.

"Guess not. Nah, no coffee." Daryl declined her offer for a reason. _You hate coffee breath and I ain't about ta have ya turn away when I wanna kiss ya._

"Okay. It's late afternoon anyway. Wouldn't want you to be unable to sleep tonight. How about a shower instead. You definitely have to clean up. What did you do? Take a mud bath?" she made a face when she pulled a piece of dried mud out of his hair.

"Rained last night. Ground was wet. Slipped a couple of times on that damn hill."

"Oh, right. That makes sense. I'm sorry you had a hard time."

"Found the girl. That's all that matters. How's the little squirt doin?"

"She's fine. Hershel thinks the leg is sprained and not broken. She's in the guest bedroom with Carol, resting and hydrating and eating. She'll be as good as new soon." Bay explained with a proud smile for him. He hadn't given up hope and he hadn't let his injuries stop him from keeping up the search. That was truly the Daryl she had fallen in love with.

"Good."

"Yes, very good. I'm so very proud of you. You did an amazing thing." she smiled and leaned down to give him several playful kisses, making loud kissy-smacking sounds. "Wanna take that shower now?"

"If I **wanna** do it depends on whether yer gon' join me again or not." he smirked lazily against her lips.

"I'll join you. You're so dirty, you definitely need help scrubbing all that mud off. We're gonna tape the stitches off this time, makes things easier."

"Prolly right..." Daryl nodded and snagged one last kiss before he sat up. He really did feel better, the painkillers and the sleep were working wonders and a hot, relaxing shower with his girl would take care of the rest.

"You haven't eaten?" Bay asked when she finally noticed the tray on the nightstand.

"Nah, was already asleep. Those painkillers helped knock me right out." he said while he got up and stood in front of the nightstand, picking up the pill bottle before opening the drawer in order to put the pill bottle away. Bay didn't think much of it, until she remembered what else was in that nightstand. Daryl smirked when he heard her gasp a little. "What's the matter, sweetheart?"

"Nothing." Bay replied a little too quickly and nervously. He had discovered her huge stash of condoms. Even though she was planning on using them with him, it was still embarrassing to her.

"Still organized I see." he said casually, making her blush even more. When she thought her head might explode from being so red already, he made it even worse by picking up one of the boxes and studying it intently with a little 'hmmm'.

"Oh good God." Bay hid her face in her hands. This was mortifying and he was having a ball.

"Should've taken the whole shelf these have been on. Could'a made a display in the corner over there. Yer damn drawer's about to burst, girl." he said coolly, mercilessly teasing her. "Don't open right no more. Extra large... most of them are... ain't never used those before."

"We should have. Maybe that's why I got pregnant in the first place. Because the regular ones are not able to contain your plus-sized genitalia." Bay mumbled from behind her hands.

The comment should have made him laugh, but Bay mentioning the pregnancy only reminded him of what they had lost. He sobered up, but he still tucked the box he was holding into the back pocket of his pants, just in case. He grabbed both her hands and pulled them away from her face, making her see that he was no longer smiling or in the teasing mood. "Come on." he mumbled and slowly pulled off her bed and out of the room.

In the bathroom Bay immediately grabbed some things from the medicine cabinet so she would be able to tape off his wounds and protect them from getting wet. Daryl took off his sleeveless shirt and his wife-beater and let her go to work after she had cut up a latex glove to fit over the sutures. "Hold this, please." she said and made him hold the latex in place while she secured it with waterproof medical tape. She realized then that they could have done it like that the first time around, but who was she kidding? She had **wanted **to get in that shower with him.

With both wounds protected by latex and tape, she went over to the tub and turned on the faucet, leaving Daryl to take off the rest of his clothes. "Put them by the door over there. You can't put those on until we washed them." She laughed and shook her head. His pants were downright stiff from the dried mud on them. He did as he was told and left his clothes in a heap by the door, then he walked over to her and embraced her from behind in all his naked glory.

"Now you're dirty, too. Gotta put your clothes by the door, too?" his low voice filled her ear. She felt his breath on her neck and it made her break out into goosebumps despite the hot temperature in the room. She laughed quietly and removed his arms from around her.

"We'll see about that. First you get under that water and rinse off the stuff that's sticking to you." she smiled and turned around and gently pushed him towards the tub. He grumbled under his breath, but he still climbed in and stood underneath the hot spray. Bay leaned back against the sink and just watched him for a moment. She unconsciously bit her lip while she watched the water run over his tanned body, washing away the dark stains, revealing his gorgeous, smooth skin. She watched the play of his muscles in his arms and back while he rubbed his hands over his chest and shoulders. _Those shoulders... Those arms... Dear God everything about him has developed in the best way... _She really liked the changes his body had gone through. He'd already been a man all those years ago, but his body had still been the one of a teenager, but now his body had caught up and he was all man, through and through. It made grown up Bay tingle in all the right places. She usually didn't find chest hair all that attractive on men, but on Daryl she loved it. Just more proof that she loved that man unconditionally. She hoped it wouldn't be her downfall one day.

"Gonna join me now, or what?" Daryl tore her out of her thoughts and she blushed when he had caught her staring at his nude form.

"Yeah." she straightened and bend over to remove her boots. Her socks and pants followed, leaving her only in a pair of black bikini style panties and an equally black tank top. But not for long. While she slowly walked over to the tub she lifted the hem of the top before pulling it off altogether, revealing naked breasts to Daryl's widening eyes.

"Shit, baby girl..." he knew he had missed the sight of her wonderful tits, but he only realized in this moment how much he had **really **missed it, and it wasn't just sexual. It felt like his body was getting it's other half back, the half that's been missing for a decade. They had used to share a lot of intimacy, often just pressing their naked bodies together and enjoying being close without having sex or making each other cum in other ways. His mouth watered when he took in her almost completely naked body. It had definitely changed, too. She still had that soft appearance about her, but now she also had a strength about her. That baby fat was gone all the way now. She was slimmer and more toned in some places, fuller and softer in others. Her breasts seemed a bit fuller and they had dropped just a little bit, because of gravity and her penchant for going bra-less, but if anything, it just pronounced the wonderfully round curves. Her nipples were as perky as ever, and they had hardened under his scorching gaze. Her arms were toned and her belly was flatter, probably thanks to the hard work on the farm over the years, but her hips and her ass were rounder and she still had that extra around the waistline. No more 'boy hips' for her, as she had called it. Also her legs were shapelier than before and no longer stork-legs (again, her words, not his). Just like he was a real man now, she had matured into a real woman. He loved it. _Fucking gorgeous. And fucking mine. Ain't never gonna fuck this up again._

Daryl steadied her as she climbed into the tub, and then he wasted no time. Before she was able to even blink, his lips were on hers and he was making her knees buckle with a searing hot kiss. His tongue tickled hers in the best way and all she was able to do was hold on to his strong biceps as he wrapped his arms around her and put his hands on her round ass, squeezing and pulling her flush against him. He pushed her up against the wall, just like the last time, pushing her head back against the tiles with the force of his kiss. He was plundering her mouth, entangling his tongue with hers, licking at her and rubbing it against the roof of her mouth until he had her squirming and moaning. She only tore her lips away from his when she felt him crouch a little, with his hands going to the back of her thighs.

"Don't lift me! You did enough of that today." she warned before he was able to hoist her up.

"Don't care."

"I care. You gotta take it easy for a day or two. Give yourself a chance to heal right. We have time now. I'm not running away. And you're not running away either... right?"

"Damn right." he nodded and pulled back from her a little, in order to take a breath and calm down a bit.

"Let's get you nice and clean." She smiled and pulled him away from the water a little, before she grabbed a bottle of shower gel, which the group had brought with them. She squirted some into the palm of her hand, then she brought that hand up to his chest, spreading the soap before she brought her second hand into play. She let her hands glide over his neck and shoulders, then down his arms, gently rubbing and massaging the strong limbs. She even cleaned his hands and fingers before she worked her way back up and rubbed her hands over his chest. Daryl was in heaven. He was a little impatient as well, because he wanted to get his hands on her, too, but for now he enjoyed having her caress him and he enjoyed the view immensely. He studied her face and her body while she was doing her thing, which was why he jumped and cursed in pleasurable shock, when she suddenly let her slippery, soapy thumbs rub over his hard nipples in little circles.

"Shiiiit..." he hissed as his fingers dug into her sides reflexively. His cock went from half hard to fully hard in an instant and was now nudging her belly. Bay's insides were quaking with need, but she didn't let it show. She let her hands wander lower, carefully washing his sides and belly, before she knelt down in front of him. Daryl's breath hitched when she was suddenly face to face with his manhood, but Bay resisted the temptation to kiss and lick him, she didn't even look at it, instead she dutifully began to wash his legs and feet, making sure that he was getting clean completely this time.

"Turn around." She ordered, and when he did she proceeded to wash his back as well, letting her hands rub over his cute ass, when she finished up. "You can rinse off now." she said evenly, her voice not betraying how shaky she felt on the inside. He was so goddamn sexy, she wanted to scream. While Daryl stood back under the water with his eyes closed, she quickly squirted some more shower gel into her hand, and rubbed her hands together, working up a bit of a lather.

Daryl felt like he was on fire. His whole body was throbbing and he couldn't believe that she was so unaffected, and that she was all business about this shower. Except for the part where she had rubbed his nipples, teasing him in the worst way. _Maybe that was just payback for me teasin' her 'bout the rubbers. _She had straight up ignored his cock, and she had never been able to ignore that before. That was definitely new, and he wasn't sure if he liked it, although teasing was a nice kind of torture. When he had rinsed all the soap off his body, he stalked towards her and he almost yelled in frustration when she spoke up again.

"Oh. I missed a spot." She said with a straight face. She enjoyed having Daryl a little rattled, and rattled he was. He was already panting and frustration was clearly evident in his expression when he backed her up against the wall once more.

"Nah. Trust me, ya didn't." he rasped while he leaned down to kiss her.

"You sure about that?" she asked, and just a second later Daryl's knees buckled slightly when she wrapped her warm, slippery hands around his throbbing length.

"Oh fuck..." he groaned as his hands slapped against the tiles on either side of her head. His eyes fell shut immediately and he leaned his forehead against hers when she started to work her magic on him. She worked both her hands up and down his erection in unison, twisting one clockwise and the other counterclockwise, giving him nice friction that had him try to dig his toes into the porcelain of the bathtub. When she reached the sensitive tip and massaged it in the same fashion, helpless moans started to fall from his lips, and he pumped his hips into her hands. It had been too damn long. He had gone without release for a while now, and he had gone a lifetime without getting release from her skilled fingers. Only Bay was able to do this to him. She was the only one to ever pull these sounds out of him, she was the only one he was able to fully let go with. She was the only one he trusted enough to lose control with and let her be in control of his pleasure. And she was doing one hell of a job. He was about to lose his mind. He felt like he wanted to do a hell of a lot more than moan like a bitch in heat. He felt like yelling, screaming and howling, releasing all these pesky emotions that he had bottled up for almost half a lifetime now. He knew that he really shouldn't do that inside this house, though. He didn't need anybody interrupting them now, and he was sure once the farmer learned of what was going on in here, he would put a stop to it.

Daryl threaded both his hands through her silky hair and let his hands ball up into fists. He pulled, tilting her head back and stared into her beautiful eyes, trying to anchor himself in order to not spin completely out of control and alert everybody in the house to their little adventure. Bay enjoyed herself immensely. She loved seeing him like this. His pupils were blown and his breathing was harsh and ragged, his moans full of lust and passion. She knew her panties were soaked by now, and not from the water coming out of the shower head. She had missed playing with him like this. He felt just like he had back then, and it was like riding a bike. She still knew what to do to drive him crazy in a very short amount of time, and that's exactly what she needed to do. With 16 people living in this house now, they couldn't stay in here too long.

She continued to work her hands steadily, but she let her hands grip him harder, and she let her motions get faster. She got an immediate response when he let out a shuddering breath and tugged on her hair harder. "Holy shit, baby girl. Still so fucking good." he breathed as he tried to keep himself from cumming just a moment longer.

"Yeah, you always liked this, didn't you?" she breathed with a little smile. "Especially when I did this while sucking on it at the same time..."

Daryl groaned when memories of all those times she had done just that hit him. It was enough to drive him even closer to his orgasm. His eyes screwed shut when the pleasure started to build up to an almost unbearable level, and his breathing became even more labored. "Faster,... faster..." he begged her, and his lips pulled back in a snarl when she listened and gave him what he wanted. "Oh... oh... fuck... cumming!" he moaned, sounding almost like he was in pain. His whole body was trembling and then with one big surge and a loud moan of her name, he exploded. He went up on his toes, slamming her into the wall with his body as he pulled forcefully on her hair without being able to control it as he came hard, holding onto her for dear life during his draining release. It was intense and powerful. It was like a huge wave that was crashing down on both of them, even Bay was shaking from the whole intensity of it. She wasn't surprised at all when his legs gave out and he sunk to his knees while she was still gently milking the rest of his release from him with slow strokes of her hands.

Daryl supported himself with one hand on the rim of the tub, the other holding on to Bay's thigh as he gasped for air. Bay cleaned her hands under the still running water, then she crouched down and cradled his face in her hands. "You okay?" her voice was no longer steady.

"Fuck yeah." he scoffed out between pants. "Get your ass into that room of yours right now, Bay. And you better be completely naked when I get there." The look he was giving her left no room for discussion. She had successfully unleashed the animal in him again. "My turn." he growled, and she almost came right then and there.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**So, are you excited about Baryl's return to Smut-Ville? I know some of you are, lol. **

**Thank you once again for all your kickass and lovely reviews. As you can see this is where things will start to get even more different than the show. I hope you guys like and will like it in the future. I hated the whole Randall story-line, so I left it out, even though Daryl "interrogating" him was fucking hot. But I think we better replace those scenes with some smut, right?;-)**

**Much much love to all of you and once again, so many thanks to everybody who speaks up and takes the time to leave reviews, ideas, support, etc. etc. These days you guys really keep me going. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I can't say it enough.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chapter 29**

A nervous, but excited shiver ran down Bay's spine when Daryl stalked into the room, and quickly shut the door behind him, before anybody would be able to see him with only a towel around his hips and one slung around his shoulders like a cape. Bay would have giggled, if it wouldn't have been for the look in his eyes. His pupils still looked blown, his eyes almost black with a thin, distractingly cerulean blue, ring surrounding them. It was very clear that this alpha male was ready to re-claim his woman, and that nothing would stop him from doing so.

"This thing lock?" he asked, referring to the door. His voice was so deep and raspy, that it had Bay pressing her thighs together to ease the throbbing she felt torturing her clit.

"N-no..." she replied shakily. It had been one thing to give him pleasure and make him lose control and have him shatter into a million pieces at her hands, but it was another thing to give herself over to him again. And while she was aroused beyond belief, she was also extremely nervous about the whole thing. More nervous than she had ever been with him before. This was their fresh start, their second chance. They were really doing this. No turning back. Once he would be inside of her, it would be a sealed deal. Exciting, but damn scary as hell, too. She forgave him for what happened, but the fear of getting hurt again would never leave her from now on.

Daryl quickly scanned the room until his gaze settled upon the chair in front of her small desk. He went over there, grabbed the chair and brought it back to the door, creating his own lock by sticking the back of the chair underneath the door knob, so the door wouldn't be able to get opened just like that. He knew Maggie wasn't a fan of knocking and he wasn't gonna have her barge in, while he enjoyed his dessert before dinner. Only when he was fully satisfied with the positioning of the chair, did he walk over to her bed, removing the towel from around his shoulders on his way there. He mirrored her and knelt on the bed, close enough to her to have their bodies touching chest to knees. He cradled her face in his big, calloused hands, and when he kissed her, Bay was surprised. She had expected him to be wild and forceful, but his kiss was deep and passionate. She didn't realize that Daryl had been very well aware of the sliver of nervousness in her expression when he had come in. He had an inkling that this was probably not too easy for her, and he understood why. He also knew that at this point, everything had been said and now only time would help him to prove that he would never leave her willingly again. Now he was trying to ease the nervousness out of her body and mind, by taking his time and easing her back into the swing of things. At least he would try. He hoped his impatience wouldn't get into the way of that.

Slowly his hands traveled over her neck and down her chest. Both of them moaned into the kiss when he cupped her soft globes, his thumbs caressing the smooth skin before they teasingly swiped at her nipples. He felt himself becoming erect again as her soft nipples turned hard underneath his finger tips. It made him circle the peaks for a moment, making Bay shudder and break out into goosebumps. _That's right. You're real sensitive here, baby girl. Almost forgot._ He grinned when he felt her small fingers dig into his biceps when he flicked his nails against her. "Still into that?" he murmured lowly against her lips.

Bay nodded frantically. She didn't trust her voice in that moment. She hadn't been this aroused since she had last been with him, and it was overwhelming. The hammering in her loins was getting stronger by the minute, and they had barely even started. She knew that her orgasm would probably match Daryl's in intensity once he got her to that point, and she had no idea if she would survive that and have her brain stay intact. She got a little breather thought, when Daryl let his hands stray from her breasts. He let them glide to her sides, tracing her shape with his palms from her armpits down to her waist, stopping for a moment to squeeze the curve there possessively, before he slid them down further, to feel the flare of her hips. "Told ya to take these off." he lightly tugged at the elastic of her panties.

"I know." she replied with a small voice.

"Then why didn't you?" his voice was tinged with a hint of amusement. "Going shy on me now?"

Bay only shrugged, her face going red as he pulled back a little to look her in the eyes.

"I already know what's hiding under those little panties, baby girl." he kept staring into her eyes, watching her expression closely while his hand slipped inside said panties. His fingers slipped through her curls towards his own personal heaven. He avoided her clit and stroked his fingers down her pussy lips towards her opening. Bay's breath hitched in the sweetest way when she felt him inch closer. She had to spread her knees apart further, because his hand was bigger now and didn't completely fit between her legs anymore. _That's right, sweetheart. Open up for me. Holy shit you're always so wet. Fucking missed all of it. _

They weren't kissing, but they were nose to nose, inhaling each others breath and watching each other closely. Daryl almost came just from the way her eyes changed and from her surprised gasp when he slowly plunged two thick fingers into her wetness. He groaned when he felt her walls stretching around his digits, trying to accommodate him again. It was like the first time all over again and a sudden realization made his eyes widen in surprise. "Bay? You ain't been with anyone all these years, have ya?"

"No." she confirmed. "There's only ever been you."

_I'm still the only one... _That fact made his primal instincts and his male pride burst through the roof. So much that he felt like his brain short-circuited. He was on her within a split second, grabbing the hair at the back of her hair, kissing her hard and wild, tongues swirling, teeth gnashing and lips bruising. He pushed his fingers as far inside of her as he could, keeping them still for a moment to let her adjust before he started thrusting and twisting and turning them, preparing her for bigger things to come. Bay was putty in his hands. She whimpered and moaned into his mouth as she pushed herself down on his fingers, trying to get them even deeper, but there was no way. He was already buried inside of her to the knuckles.

He bit down on her bottom lip hard and tugged until it snapped free. Slow and gentle Daryl was gone. Wild and rough caveman Daryl came out to play and he made his was down her body by licking her skin and inflicting red, angry bites all over her neck and down to her chest. He did what he had imagined earlier in the woods and what he had just done to her lip. He caught her nipples between his front teeth and nipped them sharply, then tugging at them, elongating them until they escaped the grip of his teeth, making her hiss, whimper, gasp and moan in the sexiest way he had ever heard. Her fingers clenched in his short hair, pulling hard, but all he felt was pleasure shooting straight to his groin. "Lay down." he commanded her after deciding to not to torture her nipples any longer, because he didn't want her to get too sore. Bay obeyed and laid down, only to have herself be pulled towards the edge of the bed by her lover.

"Be careful!" her concern for him was stronger than anything else and it broke through her lust-filled haze for a moment. "You gotta take it easy, baby."

"Bay. I ain't never said this to you before and truly meant it, and I'm sorry, alright? But shut up!" he said under his breath while he knelt on the floor. Without another word he grabbed her hips and pulled her ass to the edge of the bed. He pressed her legs together and pushed her knees up towards her chest before he hooked his fingers into the waistband of her panties and pulled them down over her ass. "Take 'em off." he said once he had slid them far enough up towards her knees for her to be able to reach them with her hands. Bay did as she was told. She would not say it out loud, but she was under the impression that his bossiness had increased over the years and she enjoyed it so much that she felt more wetness pool out of her opening. With taking her panties off in that exact moment, she knew that Daryl would notice immediately just how much she liked this side of him.

Daryl groaned inwardly and licked his lips when his eyes feasted on the sight of her glistening sex. _Exactly like I remember. No changes there._ She was still tiny, perfect and absolutely beautiful and he couldn't wait to put his mouth on her. He slowly ran his hands up the back of her thighs, sliding around to the top when he reached her knees, parting them and pulling them away from her chest and towards his own body, until her legs rested on his wide shoulders and his head was nestled between her thighs. Daryl sighed with contentment when he felt like he was coming home. He would have loved to take his time and tease her and give her hickeys and bite marks on her thighs, but he simply couldn't wait to taste her. Their eyes locked while Daryl lowered his head, but both closed their eyes before his lips made contact with her most intimate part. Keeping eye contact all the way through this very intimate act was still a little too much for them. It was something to work up to in the future as they fully repaired the little trust issues that were still in the way.

"Oh God!" a loud moan escaped her when Daryl closed his lips around as much of her as he could, engulfing her sex almost entirely with his hot mouth. He tickled the tip of his tongue along her opening, having her gasp and squirm, before he lazily traced it up and down her slit, teasing her by coming close to her clit every time, but never touching it. "Please Daryl, please, please, please..." he pulled his mouth from her and grinned when he had her begging this quickly.

"Please what, sweetheart?"

"Please..." she hesitated for a moment, having a hard time getting the words out. "... lick me..."

"Where? Show me, Bay."

Bay grabbed his hair and pulled his head up a little, until his mouth was right on top of her clit. "Here." she breathed. "Please."

Daryl brought one hand around her thigh and used his thumb and forefinger to spread her a little. Bay held her breath and bit her lip in anticipation, her fingers digging impatiently into his scalp while she kept him firmly in place. Daryl took in the sexy view, thinking for a brief moment that he enjoyed it even more now than he had when they'd been younger. Then, he finally gave her what she craved. He let his tongue slip past his lips and let the very tip of it give her clit a long, slow lick.

"Oohh holy shhhiit..." Bay moaned and pushed her hips up against his face wantonly. "Just like that."

Daryl fought a proud grin. A cursing Bay was always a good sign. He reached up and removed her hands from his hair, intertwining their fingers and resting their linked hands on either side of her hips. He started working her in earnest, teasing her clit, tracing his tongue back down to her opening and letting it penetrate her and enjoying her taste with a groan, before he licked back up and laved and suckled at her swollen nub. Bay had a death grip on his hands and her hips were undulating in a sexy dance while he gave her pleasure. She was also making the most beautiful music by releasing moan after moan, interspersed with sexy little gasps and whispers of his name. In the back of his head he was aware that, by now, everybody who would walk the hall upstairs would know what they were doing. He only hoped that nobody would feel the need to interrupt them. Especially not now, because his girl's breathing had changed and he knew she was close to losing it.

"Keep going, please keep going..." he heard her breathless pleas a bit muffled because she now had her thighs firmly clamping his head between them, and she was squeezing the hell out of his hands by now. It was bordering on painful, but Daryl couldn't care less. He only had one goal in mind. Her orgasm. He kept flicking his tongue back and forth against her clit at a fast and steady pace, knowing that it would get here there. It took less than a minute until he felt the muscles in her legs tense, followed by the rest of her body. Her hips lifted off the bed and she started panting and got quieter and quieter. Daryl knew exactly what she needed now, so he let his tongue flick faster, and within a handful of seconds, her body started bucking rhythmically as she released a strangled cry when her release washed over her.

Daryl gently closed his lips around her clit and gave a few soft sucks while she rode out her orgasm. This time he did look up at her and took in the perspiration glistening on her skin and her flushed cheeks with great pride. _Only I can do that to her. Only me. _When her body stilled her released her from his mouth and slowly pulled his hands out of her grasp. He carefully let her legs drop to the floor, then he got up and knelt on the bed with one knee, and delved one arm between her and the mattress. When he had a good grip on her, he pulled her towards the middle of the bed again, so she would be able to rest comfortably. He noticed tears leaking out of the corners of her closed eyes and he hoped that they stemmed from her intense orgasm and not from anything negative.

Bay was shaking all over and not just from her release. All these memories of them together hit her at once and it evoked a flurry of emotions which had her overwhelmed. Most of all she was overwhelmed by how much she truly loved him. It scared her to pieces, but there was probably nothing that would ever change her feelings for him. It was wonderful and devastating at the same time. In a way, she was a slave to this man. A willing slave, very much so, but what if he did hurt her again? She would never ever get over him. Still, it didn't bother her as much as it probably should. She loved him more than anything in this world and that was all that mattered right now. She had this beautiful man back in her life and he was making her feel so good that she didn't even care about people hearing them. Let them. Let them know what a great lover he was. She was proud to be with him. Always had been, always will be.

"You okay?" she felt more than she heard it whispered against her cheek after he had kissed one of the tears away.

"Yeah." she croaked out. "Just... holy shit... wow." she murmured under her breath, making Daryl chuckle. That was exactly how he had felt earlier when she had made him cum. Bay opened her eyes and turned her head to look at him. "I want you." she stated, making Daryl's heart thud that much harder in his chest, and his cock twitch almost painfully strong. "Are you up for it?" she asked, referring to his injuries.

"I'm good." he said before she had been able to finish her question completely. He sat up and opened her nightstand to get out one of the condom boxes. "Hate these things." he grumbled as he put one of the XL condoms on himself.

"Yeah, me too." Bay laughed quietly and raised her eyebrows at him when she saw his hopeful look. "Nuh-uh, we are **not **risking it, Mister."

He chewed on his lip thoughtfully for a moment before he nodded. "Yeah, probably better not to." he laid back down next to her on his side, letting his hand roam her body while they kissed breathlessly and urgently, both fighting for dominance as they rolled around the bed a little.

"Let me be on top. I can do the work while you heal." Bay suggested, but Daryl wouldn't have it.

"Nah. Later, but not now." he declined her offer. He felt like he needed to be the one on top in order to make her his again and reclaim her. He needed to give it to her good and hard. They could take their time and let her ride him later, but now they needed to do it with him doing the work, as she had called it. Bay acquiesced and rolled on her back, letting him between her spread legs. Daryl smirked as he grabbed her legs and, once more, pushed her knees up towards her chest. "Gonna go deep, baby girl. You still know what to say when it's too much?"

"Brakes." she replied without hesitation, remembering the safe word they had put in place towards the end of their relationship, when they had dabbled in rough sex a little more.

"Good girl." he rasped under his breath as he positioned the tip of his rock-hard erection at her opening, and with one quick thrust of his hips, he pushed in half-way. Bay's surprised yell at the sudden intrusion made him shudder with lust. He growled deep in his throat as he held completely still for a moment, so he wouldn't come right then and there. She was clenching her muscles, her walls squeezing him tightly as she fought to adjust to his size again. It was just as uncomfortable as it had been the very first time, but this time around, she welcomed it with open arms and reveled in the little pinpricks of pain and the pressure of being filled again.

"Deeper." she moaned and gave him the go ahead to keep pushing in further. Daryl pulled out a little again, only to fill her up with one slow, smooth thrust, all the way to the end of her. "Yesssss..." Bay hissed and held on to his shoulders when he leaned forward and supported himself on his hands on either side of her head. Daryl pulled right out again and re-entered her with a nice, hard thrust, making her cry out loudly again. She slapped her hand over her mouth when he set a steady and hard rhythm, but it didn't do much to muffle her sounds of pleasure.

"Baby girl..." his pet name for her kept falling from his lips in between grunts as he thrust himself into her over and over again with all his might. It felt too good to be true to be inside of her again. It was everything he remembered and more. Although, in the back of his mind, he had the humorous thought that sex was indeed different now that they were older... his hips started getting tired way sooner. He pushed through and even doubled his efforts, making Bay have to stem her hands against the headboard, so she wouldn't hit her head with the force of his strokes. The headboard started slamming against the wall, but neither of them even noticed. They were way too wrapped up in what they were doing and the pleasure they got from it. There was nothing sweet or gentle about it, it was hard and fast, almost brutal fucking, and it was exactly what they needed. Way too soon did Daryl feel his balls draw up as the familiar tingles built at the base of his spine and heat started to spread out throughout his lower regions and working its way through his entire body. He didn't want it to end already, but he knew there was no way around it. "Fuck... gonna cum, sweetheart."

Bay didn't reply. She literally couldn't because he was screwing her brains out and almost all of her air was gone at this point. She was just a sweat-soaked, moaning and whimpering mass that was on the verge of cumming right along with him. She removed one hand from the headboard and brought it between their bodies. A couple of hard thrusts from him and a couple of flicks of finger against clit and she exploded with Daryl's name on her lips, triggering his release and they collapsed in a writhing, shivering and panting heap on the mattress.

* * *

**Meanwhile downstairs**

"_Aaaahhh..." _

The female cry made everyone in the living room halt in their tracks.

_*thunk...thunk...thunk...thunk...thunk*_

"_Oh God... oh Daryl...Yes... Yesssss..."_

Lori, Dale, Andrea, T-Dog, Maggie, Glenn and Rick all looked up at the ceiling, realizing in that moment whose room was right on top of the living room area.

"Oh my God..." Maggie hid her eyes behind her hand for a moment, laughing incredulously. Never had she imagined that she would ever hear these kind of sounds in this house. Much less coming from Bay's room.

The men shared amused looks, while Lori blushed inexplicably and cleared her throat. "Let's keep playing." she picked her cards back up and was glad that Carl had gone to see the calf with Jimmy and Hershel.

"Good idea. Whose turn was it?" Dale asked as he focused back on the cards in his hands.

"Mine." Rick murmured as he looked at his own cards. "Andrea, got any eights?"

"Go-" Andrea was interrupted and they all looked up again when the rhythmic slamming noise got a whole lot faster.

_*thunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunkthunk*_

"_Oh! Oh! Oh! Oooohhh! Oh God! Daryl!"_

"Jesus Christ, what is he doing? Is he pinning her to the wall with a nail gun?" Glenn mumbled and shook his head, slightly embarrassed at what he was witnessing. The comment made T-Dog and Rick burst into laughter, while the others chuckled a little.

"Alright Daryl!" T-Dog cheered. "Who knew he had it in him."

"Alright people, come on. Let's blend it out. Andrea, no eights?" Lori asked for Rick as she tried to divert their attention back to their game of Go Fish. She found the situation to be humorous as well, but she was a bit embarrassed for her new friend that almost everybody was listening in on her alone time with Daryl. Even though there was no way not to listen in, except for leaving the house. She wondered how Hershel would have reacted if he'd be in here right now. _Good thing we don't have to find out._

* * *

Daryl hadn't even managed to pull out and remove the condom. They had dozed off with him still on top of and inside of her, both completely spent from their activities and orgasms. Bay woke back up about half an hour later, when their shared body heat became almost unbearable and she was barely able to breathe anymore on top of that.

"Daryl. Wake up, baby." she gently rubbed her hands up and down his sides, avoiding his stitches as best as she could. She hadn't even noticed before that he had torn off the bandages before he'd entered her room after their shower. It had been a bad idea of them to have sex. He had only been fine because the pain killers had taken the pain away, but she was sure he would feel everything they had done in a couple of hours, and it would suck. One way or another, she would have to convince him to stay in this bed and really rest for at least 2 days. The risk of infection was still there, and they really couldn't use that right now. Antibiotics were hard to come by. Daryl grumbled, but slowly blinked his eyes open.

"What?"

"You're kind of suffocating me." she giggled quietly.

"Shit. 'm sorry." he mumbled and finally pulled out of her and rolled on his back next to her. He pulled of the condom and made a knot so the contents wouldn't spill out before he tossed it on the floor. "You okay?" he asked her for the second time that afternoon.

"Fine." she smiled. "Promise me something."

"What?"

"Not to strain yourself anymore. Not in the next couple of days. I want you to stay in here for the next 48 hours and only leave to get food and to use the bathroom. Please?"

"I'm fine, Bay."

"You think that now, but let's talk again in a couple of hours."

"What you mean?"

"When the painkillers wear off. It won't be fun." she warned him, and he had to admit that he hadn't even thought about it like that.

"Worth it." he shrugged and gave her a cute little smile.

"I hope so." she smiled and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. "You should eat something. You haven't eaten since this morning."

"Where are you going?" he frowned when she moved to sit up.

"It's dinner time soon. I need to go and prepare something."

"Nah. Enough people in the house now. Let them take care of it. You work too hard, Bay."

"Oh come on, I don't. Nothing I haven't done before. You just want me to stay in this bed for other reasons." she teased him with a grin.

"You are not wrong." he laughed out quietly. "But I mean it. Take a break. If I gotta, you gotta, too."

"Yeah, okay. Sounds like a deal."

"Exactly. Also, I'm pretty sure they heard us. Let them get over it first or you're gonna be in hell down there with all their stupid grins and teasing and shit." Daryl knew that he wasn't ready to face that. If he could, he would avoid those people for as long as it would take them to forget about what they had possibly heard.

"Hm... right." Bay flushed at the thought of someone asking her about the noises. "Good God, I might never leave this room again." she thought as she grew more and more mortified the longer she thought about how quiet she had **not **been. Damn Daryl Dixon and his skills.

"Now we're talking." he smirked. "Hand me the tray?" he motioned towards the food on the nightstand after his belly had started growling.

"Here you go. Chicken's cold by now."

"Don't care." he smiled and dug into the mashed potatoes. "Want some?" he held his fork up to her mouth.

"Mhm." Bay nodded and let him feed her as she relaxed contentedly with her back against the headboard.

They hid out in her room for the rest of the evening, not keen on facing the rest of the group, and now, with Sophia found and no immediate pressing issues they had to focus on, they didn't have to. Morning and breakfast would come soon enough.

* * *

Bay was nervous about going downstairs and facing the group the next morning. Daryl and her had been up a while already. After another lovemaking session in the middle of the night, they had woken up and picked up right where they had left off. Despite Bay wanting him to rest, they hadn't been able to keep their hands off each other. They had kissed and caressed each other lazily, masturbating each other until they had been ready to go. Bay had rolled a condom over his length before she had straddled his lap and had let herself sink down on his turgid length. Daryl had squeezed her ass in his hands, helping her slowly bounce up and down on his cock while she had supported herself with her hands on his strong shoulders. Nobody had heard anything this time, she was sure of it, because they had been pretty quiet. Just breathless whispers and quiet moans had been uttered during their slow and tender lovemaking.

However Bay was still embarrassed about the night before, when they had tried to slam a hole in the wall, using her bed as a hammer. And she had been loud, too. She would have to remember that they were not in their own apartment anymore, and that 14 other people, including two impressionable little kids, were around and possible listening in. She was blushing before she even entered the kitchen and she lowered her head and brought her hand up to scratch an imaginary itch on her forehead on her way to the fridge. "Mornin'..." she muttered to the backs of Lori, Beth and Maggie.

"Good morning." The women greeted in unison. Lori sent her a smile as she looked over her shoulder for a moment, while Beth and Maggie smirked as they shared a look.

"Hey Bay..." Maggie came closer and smiled. "Missin' anything?"

"Missing anything?" Bay frowned and thought about it for a moment. "Ummm... I miss butter...?" she made it sound like a question, thinking maybe it was a new game Beth had come up with. Maybe they were supposed to say what they missed from before the outbreak? Or maybe Daryl had literally screwed her brains out and she was not getting what Maggie was asking?

"That's not what she meant." Beth giggled. "I did laundry..."

"Oh great. Thanks." Bay didn't get that the girl's statement had been supposed to be a hint.

The girls looked at each other again and started laughing at Bay's being oblivious to what was going on. "Christ, did he bang your head against the wall?" Maggie laughed. "We put the box of extra large condoms from Daryl's pants into the back of the cabinet with the towels... Just in case you wonder where your condoms have vanished to."

"Oh God." Bay blushed furiously and hid her face behind her hands, just like the day before when Daryl had teased her about them. That's when he had put the box in his pants pocket, and Bay hadn't noticed.

"Extra large?" Even Lori's ears perked up at that and she looked over at a mortified Bay with raised eyebrows. "Seriously?"

"Mhm." Bay hummed and nodded slightly, not daring to look anyone in the eyes while she got some fresh eggs out of the fridge.

"You should be careful about where you leave those, Bay. Two minutes later and Daddy might have found them. He was in there right after me." Beth told her, making Bay's embarrassment even worse.

"Oh God!" she shuddered. "Oh God,... nope, not even thinking about that. Didn't happen." Suddenly she shot up straight like one of her lover's bolts. "Did he...? Yesterday... was he around when we... you know?"

"No, you were in luck." Lori laughed quietly. "He was out with Carl and Jimmy, visiting.. Lily? The calf?"

"Yeah, Lily. Good... Good." Bay sighed in relief. At least she wouldn't get funny looks or a lecture from Hershel. That was the last thing she needed. From now on, she had to be much more careful with her sounds.

"Relax, Bay. We're just teasing you a little. That's what people do, you know?" Maggie winked at a red-faced Bay.

"I know, but that doesn't mean that I like it."

"I do." Beth smiled. "It feels normal."

"Never felt normal to me." Bay muttered under her breath and cracked some eggs into a bowl.

"You okay, honey?" Lori smiled at her gently.

"Yes, I just... I've never been comfortable with this kind of stuff around people who aren't Daryl." Bay explained. "Was it really that loud?"

"I don't know about loud, but it was certainly audible." Lori replied, and when Bay shook her head at herself, Lori put her arm around Bay's shoulders and squeezed gently. "Don't worry. I'm sure you are not the only one it's going to happen to. With several couples in these tight quarters... it's bound to happen. Privacy is gone, I'm afraid."

"Yeah, I guess so." Bay agreed. "Just gotta be more careful and considerate. I'm sorry that you had to hear that."

"Don't apologize. It happens." Lori winked with a little smile and squeezed Bay's shoulder some more, before she left the younger woman to cook her eggs. When she was finished she brought the food up to Daryl. He had promised to stay in bed longer and rest up until he really wouldn't be able to take sitting still anymore. She had breakfast with him, then she kissed him and left to do her chores around the farm.

* * *

A while later Bay was mucking out the horses' stalls, when she was joined by Rick. Something told her that he wasn't here to help. His expression was different than usual. He didn't look very pleased.

"What can I do for you, Rick?"

"Did you tell my wife that it was okay not to be happy about the baby?" he asked in a non-nonsense tone of voice.

Bay stopped what she was doing and straightened, looking him dead in the eye. "Yes. I did."

"Why would you do that?"

"Because it **is** okay not to be happy about it. There's no need for her to feel guilty about being confused and not knowing what to do."

"Just because you think that it was okay for you, doesn't give you the right to support my wife in thinking it would be alright to have an abortion."

"That was not what I said, Rick."

"Wasn't it? You told her it's okay not to be happy. That's basically telling her that it's okay to get rid of it."

"I told her that she should talk to you. That you two should work it out together. She asked me not to judge her, so I told her my story to prove to her that I would be the last person to judge. I just wanted to share and show her that she wasn't alone. That's all. I never said 'go ahead, get rid of your kid'. I said she should talk to you. I said that she should think long and hard about what she would be able to live with." Bay explained to him, but she saw in his expression that she wasn't getting through to him. He came closer, looking her in the eyes with a determined look. His voice was calm, but she clearly detected the warning it was carrying.

"Keep out of our business. Keep your opinions to yourself. Or you and me are gonna have problems."

"Problems it is, then." Bay shot back calmly. "Sorry, but I'm not easily intimidated, and I sure as hell won't keep my mouth shut in my own house. If you have a problem with me, keep your distance. That's all I have to say to that."

Rick didn't say anything. He just looked at her for a moment before he turned and walked out.

"Funny how I was very welcome to voice my opinions out loud to Hershel, when it was in order to help him and his family stay." Bay didn't say it too quietly, and she was sure Rick had caught it on his way out, but he didn't show it. Bay stopped working for a moment and let the conversation replay in her head. _Looks like Sheriff Grimes isn't the friendly neighborhood cop after all. Better keep my eyes on that._

* * *

**Thank you for reading!  
**

**Not too much happening in this one, but looks like Bay made a little no-no in Rick's book. Ricktator starting to show through his friendly exterior;-)**

**Thank you so much to all the wonderful reviewers and hello to all the new readers, followers and favorite-ers. Thank you for taking the time to interact with me, giving me feedback and great ideas. I love you all. **


	30. Chapter 30

**Chapter 30! Wow, I can't believe it's been almost exactly three months and thirty chapters now. Seems like we are just getting started. Thank you so much for sticking with me and accompanying me on Bay and Daryl's journey. Hope you enjoy this one.**

* * *

He had been in a good mood, what with waking up with Bay, the love of his fucking life, back in his arms and smiling at him with her big, beautiful eyes full of love and adoration for him. But then she had left his arms and had made breakfast and had then gone outside to do her thing, helping out around the farm, while he was still stuck in this bed. He had to admit that he did feel extremely sore after carrying Sophia and then having sex three times with his girl. If he wanted a repeat, he would have to rest until she had time for him again later, and the prospect of getting hot and sweaty with her again was worth the boredom, he figured. _Maybe I get a reward for bein' a good boy and stayin' in all day. _He was considering starting to beg to have her lips wrap around his cock at this point. She had teased him enough, kissing around down there, but never letting her lips or tongue touch his dick. He felt a tingle in his balls when he thought back to the last time she had done that for him. He was big, she hadn't been able to take all of him and she probably never would be, but that was fine with him. She had still been able to take more of him inside her mouth than he had thought, and she had learned how to work the rest with her hand just right.

Daryl was just about to let his hand slide underneath the covers to stroke himself to the fantasy of how she'd given him head for the first time, when he heard heavy footsteps come closer. "Shit." he cursed quietly and turned on his side, so his dick, which had been half hard already, would not be visible through the covers while it became flaccid again. He figured it was either Rick or Shane coming to see him.

"Yeah." Daryl called out after the person had knocked on the door. _I know fer sure that it ain't Maggie. That girl never knocks_, he thought right before Rick opened the door and stepped inside. His bright blue eyes scanned the room quickly.

"Where's Bay?" the former Sheriff asked, his gaze finally settling on Daryl.

"Out. Doing chores. Why?" Daryl narrowed his eyes at Rick. He was uncomfortable with how much attention Rick kept giving Bay, especially with the touching. He didn't realize that it wasn't as alarmingly much as it appeared to him, just because Daryl himself wasn't touchy-feely with other people. To him it was strange when married men put their hands on another woman's back or arm.

"Need to ask her something."

"What?"

"How are you feeling?" Rick ignored Daryl's question, making the hunter even more suspicious.

"Fine."

"Yeah... sounded like it." Rick smirked with amusement, making Daryl blush and shift uncomfortably.

"Anythin' else ya wanted?"

"Are you up to taking a watch shift tonight?"

"Yeah." He had wanted to say no, because he wanted to spend more time with Bay, but he knew he couldn't be selfish. They all had to pitch in to keep the whole group safe.

"Good. You can take the shift at midnight with T-Dog. I set up two four-hour night shifts. Starting at eight pm until midnight is the first, midnight til four am is the second. At that time Hershel already gets up and starts feeding the animals, so he's got an eye on things. You okay with that? Think that will work?"

Daryl looked up in surprise when Rick asked him his opinion on the shift system. He wasn't used to being asked for feedback and he wondered why Rick wasn't asking Shane. Or maybe he already had? Daryl thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "Maybe we should have a third group. Cover the hours til 6 am. Maybe 7. Gets light later now. The farmer can't watch everything when he's busy." Daryl explained, and Rick nodded.

"Yeah. Sounds right." Rick's eyes wandered towards the window while he mulled over Daryl's suggestion. "We could have three groups with a three and a half hour rotation. That covers ten and a half hours. From eight at night til six-thirty in the morning. Yeah... I like that. Good idea." he gave Daryl praise and a little nod, showing him that he'd done good. Rick was starting to get impressed with Daryl. The man was way smarter than he looked, and it proved to Rick that you really shouldn't judge a book by its cover. He felt a little ashamed that he had been about to write Daryl off as just another stupid redneck, just like Merle. But Daryl was very different from Merle, Rick had to realize. He had admired the drive Daryl had had, during the search for Sophia. He still couldn't believe that the hunter had really found her. Daryl was turning out to be a good man, and a great asset, and not just because of his hunting skills. The way he had observed the scene at the nursing home of the Vatos with a clear head, deducting that it hadn't been walkers, but other people, that had been impressive. Even Rick himself, as a former sheriff, hadn't connected the dots right away. He had been quick to think that it had been the walkers, just like everybody else. Rick was finding himself putting more trust in Daryl. He needed a right hand man he could trust, and after Lori had confirmed his suspicions, he knew that Shane was no longer that guy. Every time he looked at Shane now, he didn't see his best friend, his brother, anymore. He just saw the guy who'd banged his wife. Even though they had thought that Rick had been dead... It was still a break of trust to Rick. Shane was also flying off the handle more and more, upsetting Hershel and everybody else. He would need someone like Daryl to help him keep things in check. "Anyway, you rest up some more. I'll see ya later." Rick was quickly out the door again, before Daryl had the chance to ask what he wanted from Bay. That shit had him uneasy, and he lost his good mood a little, despite having been able to help Rick with the shift system.

Daryl flopped down on his back and stared at the ceiling. _Now what? _He didn't feel horny anymore, not after just having seen Rick and now with the wondering what the hell he wanted to ask Bay this time. To pass the time Daryl decided to get up and get dressed and go take a piss and brush his teeth. That would shave at least five minutes off his boredom and he'd save himself the trouble of getting a toothache in the damn apocalypse. That would seriously suck. Painkillers would only do so much. While he rinsed his mouth he bumped his bare foot against the scale that sat underneath the sink. He looked at it for a moment and shrugged. _Why not?_ He pulled it out from under the sink and stepped on it. He was surprised when he noticed that he'd lost about 15 pounds since the last time he had stepped on one shortly before the outbreak. _Not that fat anymore, _he thought with an internal grin while he stepped off and pushed the scale back under the sink. He had noticed that he had to fasten his belt tighter these days, so his pants wouldn't slip off his ass, but he hadn't paid much attention to it until now. He might have to go out and get some clothes one of these days. Winter was coming anyway and they would probably all need something new and a little warmer. He'd ask Bay about stores in the area where they could go and get some new stuff and stock up for winter, he decided.

He went back to Bay's room and sat on the chair that was back by her desk again. He looked at the pictures up on the wall, his heart thumping painfully hard in his chest when he saw a picture of Bay, which must have been taken shortly after she had come to live on the farm. She was on crutches, she looked tired and very, very thin, but she was smiling with a very young Maggie and a little blonde girl that had to be Beth by her side. She looked exactly like that morning when he'd dropped her off at work for the last time... The day she had found out that she had been carrying his baby... which she had lost, because he had left. He leaned back in the chair and kept staring at the picture while he unconsciously chewed on his lip. He had let Merle dictate his life and he'd fucked everything up because of it. If he would be brutally honest with himself, then him and Merle had killed that little baby. He didn't like how casual Bay was about it, but then again, it was like she said; she had a decade to deal with it. He had just learned about it and he had a damn hard time with it. He couldn't stop thinking about it. He kept being distracted from it momentarily, but as soon as it got quiet again, his mind wandered back to that baby.

_We would've made it work. Bay might not have gone to college, but maybe it would have been worth it. We both would've had a real family for once. A good family. Maybe that would have been enough for her. She would have been able to go to school once the kid had been in pre-school, right? Having that family wouldn't have automatically meant giving up her dreams. But we would have raised the hell outta that kid. Would've made sure it had everything. We both had good jobs. We would have made it work. _The thought was a happy one, but at the same time it hurt so much that he felt like he couldn't breathe. They would never have that now. Not until the world was back to what it had been, if that would even ever happen. Still, Daryl didn't share Bay's view that it was better this way, with the kid not surviving. The kid would have survived this. Daryl would have made sure. Carl was doing okay. Sophia would be doing okay from now on... Their kid would have been okay as well. _How can ya miss something ya never even knew?_ Daryl thought as tears stung his eyes. He thought that he might feel a little like Carol had when Sophia had been missing, because right now he missed his own kid. The difference was, that he wasn't able to go out to the woods and look for it. There was no chance of ever finding it, because it was already dead and gone. It meant that he would keep missing it for a very long time. Possibly forever. That thought sucked. He took a deep, shaky breath and roughly wiped the single tear that had escaped from his face with the back of his hand, and took his eyes off the picture of younger Bay.

That's why he always needed something to do. Boredom was his worst enemy, because it made him think too much. He got up from the chair, but before he took a step away from the desk he paused, his eyes wandering back to the picture. He took it off the wall along with another one from what looked to be her 30th birthday party. All the Greene's in party hats with big smiles, and her right in the middle. He took both pictures and brought them to his backpack, stuffing them inside. _Just in case._ He hoped that 'just in case' would never happen and that he would never have to go without her again, but this time he would be prepared. You never knew these days, so... just in case. After putting his pack back in the closet he went to the window, thinking maybe he might spot her somewhere and watch her for a while, but all he saw was Maggie going into the chicken coop, and Lori and Carl feeding the little chicks. Nothing interesting to see there, so he laid back down on the bed. He kept rolling from side to side for a moment, then he grabbed a bolt from his crossbow and started fiddling with it. It had been only a half an hour and he was going crazy. _Nah baby girl, sorry. Can't do it, _he thought and got back up and put on his socks and boots. Then he grabbed his bow and left the room. A little walking around in fresh air wouldn't hurt him.

* * *

"You seen Bay?" Daryl asked Lori and Carl when he passed the chicken coup.

"No, not since she made you breakfast. Maybe she's with Hershel checking on the cows?" Lori suggested that he should look there.

"Maybe." he mumbled and squinted as he looked out into the pasture, trying to spot her or Hershel. Before he kept walking he gave Lori a nod, then turned around when he heard footsteps behind him. It was just Andrea, not Bay, so he asked her if she had seen his girl around.

"No, sorry." Andrea gave him a little smile before he finally continued his walk.

Bay wasn't checking on the cows, and she wasn't in the garden or the orchard either. He walked towards the stables when he saw Rick downright storming out of there. "Bay in there?" he asked the group leader, noticing how tense Rick was.

"Yeah." Rick replied curtly and kept walking. Daryl watched his retreating back for a moment, wondering what the hell was going on there, before he walked in himself, finding Bay standing in a stall staring at the wall, apparently deep in thought.

"Hey." he made her jump, but he didn't apologize.

"Hey." she was happy to see him, but she still narrowed her eyes at him. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed resting?"

"I tried, but it's too boring. 'sides, a little walking around ain't gonna hurt me." he argued while he gripped the strap of his crossbow, which was slung diagonally around his torso, with his right hand.

"True." she had to agree. "Just don't lift anything. Don't help out. Just stand there and look gorgeous." She grinned at him, but he didn't return it. He was looking at her closely, not even knowing what he was looking for, but something was a little off.

"What did Rick want?"

"He's mad at me." Bay replied with a deep sigh.

"The fuck for?" Daryl frowned. Bay was one of the sweetest and most giving people he had ever met. He couldn't fathom why in the world Rick would be mad at her.

"I said something to Lori and Rick isn't happy about it. I mean, I get it... He's upset. Probably not even with me, just in general and he needed a scapegoat. I don't think I've been too wrong about him, so I'm sure he'll get over it and we'll work it out, but until then, I told him to stay away from me. I won't let him blame me for whatever Lori decides to do, and I won't let him blame me for him only hearing what he wanted to hear." Bay was answering his question, but Daryl got the impression that she was talking to herself. Like she was trying to explain to herself what had transpired between her and Rick.

"What you say to Lori?"

"I can't tell you."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because something is going on that I can't tell you about. I told Lori to talk to Rick about it, which she did, but apparently it didn't go too well, or whatever."

"What, she fess up about banging Shane back in the quarry camp?" Daryl wanted to know what was going on and he was throwing her a bone, telling her that she could talk about it to him because he already knew.

"What?" Bay's surprised expression however let him know that that hadn't been it. "Lori slept with Shane? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Saw them one time when I came back from hunting. They didn't see me. Were too busy fucking."

"Oh crap." Bay's jaw almost hit the ground. _If she didn't use anything with Shane... She doesn't know who the father is. That's why she's so upset. Crap. Did she tell Rick about that part? Would explain why he was so bent out of shape in general. Double crap._

"Bay, what the hell is going on?" Daryl was growing impatient. From the look on her face it seemed like something big was going on and he didn't like it.

Bay sighed and walked closer to Daryl. The walls had ears, now even more so than before, so she whispered it into his ear. "Lori's pregnant."

Daryl connected the dots almost immediately. "Shit... and she don't know whose it is?"

"That's my guess. I had assumed it was Rick's, because I didn't know about Shane and her." They kept their voices low while they talked, careful not to let anyone listen in. "She asked for morning after pills, trying to force a miscarriage. She told me she wasn't happy about being pregnant and she asked me not to judge. I told her about what happened to me, just to show her that she wasn't the only one who felt like that. I told her that it is perfectly fine not to be happy about having a baby. I told her to go to Rick and tell him, and that they should work things out together. Now Rick thinks that I basically told her to get rid of the baby, which I didn't. That's why he's pissed at me."

"Dammit Bay! You're still a fucking shitstorm magnet! Why the fuck you had to get involved in that? Why the fuck would ya tell her that?" Daryl suddenly went off on her. The thoughts of their own baby were still fresh on his mind from just a couple of minutes ago, and now hearing her say one more time that she was happy about losing it, made him angry and hurt even more.

"Hold on!" Bay raised her voice just like he had. "Why am I the bad guy here? I did nothing wrong. All I did was tell her about my own experience and that she should talk it out with her husband. That's all. Why are **you **pissed off?"

"Cause it ain't right to be happy 'bout that shit, Bay. Don't ya get that?" he yelled at her.

"And again, don't you get what kind of situation I was in? I had nobody, Daryl. There was no big fucking happy family with father, grandparents, aunts and uncles. There was nobody around to help me. I would have had to work two jobs again, no scratch that, probably three jobs just to make rent and pay for a damn full-time babysitter and for everything the kid would have needed. I never would have even seen it, all I would have done would have been work, work, work around the clock, just to support it. What kind of life is that? Should I've had our kid grow up with a stranger? Call her mommy instead of me? Might as well have given it up for adoption. I'm telling you Daryl, there was just no way. Get that in that thick head of yours and stop making a big deal out of it."

Daryl's eyes narrowed even further as he took another step towards her as he tried to stare her down. "What would you have done?" he asked with morbid curiosity. "If it hadn't died. Sounds ta me like ya would have gotten rid of it either way. Huh? That's what you would'a done?"

Bay held his gaze, and she wasn't intimidated by him at all. She knew that he would never lay a finger on her. Also, she was quite furious at him right now and the fire in her eyes was blazing. "That what you think of me, Daryl? That I would have gotten rid of it either way? Really?"

"It's what you just said."

"No. And if that's what you believe, then what are we even trying to do giving this a second chance?" Bay asked him, and stunned him for a moment. The fear of losing her again immediately gripped at his insides and made his anger subside a little bit. Bay took a deep breath to collect herself, then she released it with a sigh. Her voice calmer again when she continued. "If I wouldn't have had that miscarriage, I would have made it work somehow. Like you said, it's what we do. I know what it feels like not to be wanted by your parents anymore, remember? It would have had kind of a shitty life with a mostly absent mother, but I wouldn't have abandoned it. It was half you and half me, Daryl. Even though I hated what you did, I still loved you. I tried to forget you, but I never could. With that baby you would have been a part of my life forever. Sometimes that thought made me cry so hard that I had to throw up. Partly because I didn't want a reminder of you and partly because it hurt me that you would never know about it. That it would never know you. I knew you would have been a great father. The kid would have missed out. And just think about it. If I hadn't lost the baby, then the car wouldn't have hit me. I would have lived in another town, maybe even another state and maybe our paths never would have crossed again. The accident made me end up here... The outbreak did the rest. Kind of a wacky plan from the man upstairs, but in the end, maybe it did all happen for a reason. We can have another kid, but there never would have been another Daryl for me." Bay wiped a tear from her eyes and took another deep, but shaky breath. "That's why I think it was better this way Daryl. Not because I was being an evil witch who did a happy dance when blood pooled out of me on that bridge. It's because I knew I never would have been able to give the child the life that it deserved. Not without you."

Daryl averted his eyes and looked at the ground. He felt like an ass. It was becoming his thing these days. Over the years he had started to think that everybody was just out to screw him over and fuck with him, so his being naturally suspicious of things and people had become worse and worse. _So bad that I now think that my girl is a kid-hating evil witch? Shit man... ain't right. _Living with Merle had done a number on him. Usually it had been Merle who had talked him into doubting Bay. Now, Daryl was doing that just fine on his own, without help from his brother. Even though Merle was gone, he was still around... inside Daryl's head. _Gotta get him out._ Before Daryl was able to say anything, Bay spoke up again.

"Get rid of it..." she laughed lightly. "Do you know how often I thought about how it would have been if you had stayed? How it would have been if it had survived, even if I would have had to make it work on my own? There are days when I miss that kid so bad, Daryl. You have no idea. So having you think that I was happy about losing it just for kicks... It's not okay."

Daryl's eyes snapped up at that. "You miss it?"

"Yeah. I do. Not all the time, but on some days I think about it a lot and then I want nothing more than to hug the hell out of my child. It's weird. How can you miss something you never had, right?" Bay laughed sadly as another tear spilled out of her eye. Daryl's breath hitched slightly when she said exactly what he had thought just half an hour ago. Suddenly he felt connected to her again. Fully. Not just physically. It's like the drawbridge had gone down, connecting them emotionally and spiritually again as well. Warmth emanated from his heart and flowed through his entire body, overwhelming him with love for his girl. He felt like he was 20 again and just realizing how much he was in love with that damn Bayanne girl. He took her face in his hands and placed a big, soft and loving kiss on her lips.

"Ain't weird." he muttered against her lips, but he didn't admit that he felt the same way about missing their child. He just let her know that it was alright to miss it, implying that she wasn't alone. Just like she had done with Lori. She was right, she had done nothing wrong. "m' sorry."

"Okay." she simply stated, accepting his apology.

"Imma talk to Rick. He was outta line." Daryl said decisively while he released her face from his grip.

"Just like you were just now. And I'm sure he will come around, just like you did. He needs time to process. You don't need to fight my battles for me, Daryl. I'm a big girl." she smiled and rolled up on her toes to give him another kiss. "And don't tell anyone about Lori."

"Pfff, yeah right. Like I'm gonna walk around gossiping 'bout that shit." Daryl said while he leaned against the wall and watched Bay finish up her work.

"Right. Sorry." Bay laughed, remembering who she was talking to.

"Whatchu gonna do next? When you're done in here?"

"Tend to the garden. Or was it Beth's turn? No, she's in the orchard, I'm in the garden... yeah, garden it is. And no, I don't need help. But you are welcome to watch me crawl around in the dirt."

"Sounds good to me." Daryl said with a smirk. He was glad that he had come out of the house. He still felt useless, because he wasn't allowed to help, but at least he could feel useless while staring at Bay now. The day was looking up.

* * *

They walked out of the stables and down to the garden side by side. Andrea and Lori watched them with little smiles on their faces.

"They look good together." Lori said. "They match well somehow, don't you think?"

"I do. They seem like a unit. They are so in sync. Look at how they walk. They walk almost the exact same way. Little swagger in their step. Purposeful but relaxed at the same time. I had a hard time picturing them together, but seeing them together now... they make sense." Andrea voiced out her observations to the other woman. "I wonder why they ever broke up. They obviously still love each other... and lust after one another judging from what we all heard last night."

"Merle." Lori stated, making Andrea look at her with puzzlement, so she clarified. "Merle is the reason why they broke up. He practically took Daryl out of town, away from her, and Daryl let him."

"That's not surprising. Looks like she forgave him for that."

"She did. But I think she won't ever be able to get rid of the fear of him doing it again."

"Merle's not around anymore."

"Yeah, but still. It was Daryl who let Merle do it, so Daryl could decide one day to leave again." Lori argued.

"I don't think Daryl is the kind of person to make the same mistake twice."

"Let's hope so for Bay's sake." Lori said and smiled a little. "Funny how quickly you form attachments nowadays, isn't it?"

"It is. We've been here a week and I feel like we've been here forever already. I love this family. Maggie is great, she's good for Glenn. Bay is great, she's good for Daryl. I haven't had too many talks with Beth, but she seems very sweet and with a good head on her shoulders. Hershel, now that he is over his reservations about us... he's very nice, too." Andrea agreed with Lori's statement. It was funny how quickly they forgot just how little time had actually passed between the quarry and the farm.

"They all are. They are good, strong people. I can't ever thank Hershel and Bay enough for saving my son. They worked day and night to keep him alive, and they didn't owe us anything, but they opened our home to us and kept us fed and well cared for. Especially the girls. Eight days I've been here and I can't imagine not having the girls around. Or Hershel." Lori laughed a little before she kept going. "It's weird. I feel so attached to Bay. She took such good care of us when we got here. She even cut Rick's food." Lori laughed more when she thought back to that moment. "I like talking to her. She has such a presence... calming... she makes you feel at ease... I don't know how to describe it."

"I know what you mean. It makes you feel like you've known her forever. I can see why Daryl would fall for her. She's a good woman. And easy on the eyes, that always helps I guess." Andrea chuckled.

"Right? Even I get distracted by those eyes of her." Lori laughed.

"I bet she had Daryl wrapped around her little finger with those. I bet she gave him puppy dog eyes and he did everything she wanted. Maybe that's why she thought of him as sweet." Andrea said, but it was jokingly. Just some light-hearted girl talk between the two of them.

"Probably. It was so sweet when they kissed, though. Never thought I'd see angry, yelling and squirrel-throwing Daryl Dixon in a situation like that."

"Or **hear **him in a situation like that. Okay, we didn't really hear **him**, just what he did." Andrea corrected herself.

Lori hesitated a moment, not knowing if it was right to gossip, but then again, it felt so good to talk to Andrea like that. It felt normal and she couldn't get enough, so she spilled the beans. "Beth found condoms in Daryl's pants. And they weren't the regular ones."

"What?" Andrea was confused. "What do you mean they weren't the regular ones?"

"Extra large." Lori mock-whispered, watching Andrea's eyes widen with interest.

"Really?"

"Yes. Maggie and Beth teased Bay about it. I asked her if he really needed those and she blushed and nodded and went 'mhm'."

"Hmmm, makes sense." Andrea said thoughtfully.

"It does?" Now it was Lori's turn to be confused. "Why?"

"He walks like he's got 'dick confidence'." Andrea shrugged casually and made Lori actually burst out into loud laughter with her statement.

* * *

Two days later everybody knew about the pregnancy. Lori and Rick had decided to keep the baby. By being on the farm they had the best chances for everything to go right, and for their kids to grow up in an environment that was still as normal as possible. The group was happy about the news. To them a new baby symbolized hope and joy, and they could all use an extra dose of that. Nobody knew it, but Rick had talked to Shane right after him and Lori had come to a decision. He had asked Shane to watch his behavior, because they couldn't ever get kicked off the farm now. Shane had just nodded, but on the inside something had changed. He was convinced that Lori's baby was his. Rick hadn't been back that long, he was sure if he had impregnated Lori, she wouldn't have been able to tell yet. Shane was **not **okay with Rick acting like the baby was his. He knew he had to do something. Maybe even something drastic. It would be hard, but one thing Shane was sure of. He would not watch his own kid grow up and hear it call Rick 'daddy'.

Bay was glad that Lori had decided not to take the pills, but it didn't stop Bay from worrying about her new friend. Quite the contrary, actually. She didn't know much about human pregnancies, but she knew that miscarriages obviously happened, as well as emergency c-sections. She didn't know how they would pull that off if it came to that. They would have to look into getting the right equipment. Get into a hospital and loot narcotics and instruments. The downside to that plan was, that hospitals would probably be completely overrun. It would be an extremely dangerous mission to get what they would need, but she was sure that it had to be done. For more reasons than just Lori's pregnancy and delivery. The pharmacy was almost out of supplies. Maggie and Bay had taken as much as possible over the past couple of months. Stocking the basement with all kinds of things. They even had a nice supply of cold medicine, nasal spray, vitamins etc. etc. But they would need more antibiotics, anti-inflammatory pills, pain killers and so on. What if someone else needed surgery? What if someone got appendicitis or something like that? Yeah, they had to look into getting new and better surgical instruments for Hershel. Some books, too, so they could both read up on human medicine.

"Where are you?" Daryl's voice disrupted her train of thought. She shook herself out of it and smiled up at him from his shoulder, where her head currently rested.

"Just thinking about things. You know, Lori and the baby..."

"Yeah." The whole thing had Daryl thinking himself. If the Grimes' could do it, why not him and Bay, too?

"So much can go wrong. It's scary. And we don't have the right equipment to take care of her." Bay sighed and Daryl frowned. He thought Bay was thinking about the same thing he was, but that obviously wasn't the case.

"What do you mean?"

"When I had the miscarriage, the doctors did a procedure on me. They took a sharp instrument, kind of like a spoon with a sharp edge, and they scraped out my uterus like a Halloween pumpkin, removing all traces of the pregnancy. Said it was safer that way." She explained and literally felt Daryl cringe.

"Good Lord..." he made a face and shuddered. He wasn't squeamish by any means, but the thought of some quack doing that to his girl made him want to gag and throw up. Not to mention the thought of someone scraping out the baby's remains and tossing them in the trashcan like it was nothing. Now that really made him have to take a long, deep breath and focus on not throwing up his dinner. "Hold up. That mean that ya can't have kids no more?"

"No. It's all good."

"Oh. Good." he was relieved and it made Bay smile. He still hadn't given up hope of them having a family one day, like they had talked about when they had been younger. Daryl suddenly remembered another question he had been wanting to ask her ever since she had told him that she had been pregnant. "How'd you end up pregnant anyway? Ya didn't bleed. Ya said if ya ain't bleeding, then you can't get pregnant."

"Yep, I said that. And I was wildly misinformed." Bay laughed about her own stupidity, but then again, nobody had ever told them about all the things that could or couldn't affect fertility in sex ed. "The doctor thought that I didn't get my period because of a combination of stress, malnutrition and low body weight."

"But when we got together you ate better and more. Ya weren't that skinny."

"I know, and I was happy. I told the doctor, but he was still convinced that my body was still suffering from what I had done to it the whole year before and that my body kept me from bleeding every month, kind of like it's saying 'nah, she's going through enough'. That's how he explained it. However, even though I didn't bleed, everything else kept working just fine. Didn't know that was possible, but obviously it is. One of the condoms must have had a hole, or we weren't careful enough during other activities... That's how it happened. I was still very much fertile."

"Wish it had happened earlier... Would have kept me from leaving."

"Don't. I swear to God Daryl. Start this up and I will leave this room right now." Bay didn't want to go over the same thing over and over and over again. It happened. It's done and there is no way to get that past back. Thankfully their conversation got interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in." Bay called out from where she was still nestled in Daryl's embrace. He was about to disentangle himself from her, but Bay stayed firmly put. He would have to learn once again to deal with other people seeing them hug or kiss. She would never let him act like he was ashamed of her, and pretty much all of them have heard them screwing anyway.

The door opened, revealing Carol, who looked a little shocked when she saw Daryl and Bay laying on her bed cuddling. "Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, I said come in." Bay smiled and sat up a little. "What can we do for you?"

"I... um... Sophia drew a picture for you." Carol held out a sheet of paper towards Daryl. "She's too shy to give it to you herself, so she asked me to do it for her. She wanted to make something for you to say thank you for saving her."

"Awww, that's so sweet." Bay grinned at Daryl's slightly baffled expression.

He didn't know how to react. He was pleasantly surprised and he felt a little smile tug at the corners of his mouth when he looked at the picture. It was a house, not unlike the one he'd found Sophia in, and a person he assumed to be himself judging by the crossbow he was holding. Sophia had given him huge arms, making him look a bit like the Hulk, but without all the green. She had scribbled a big 'thank you' on top of the picture, but what made Daryl all mushy inside was the small arrow that was pointing towards the stick figure with the crossbow and big arms, and the word that was written right at the bottom of the arrow in small letters, almost like she had been too shy to write it. _Hero._

He started chewing on his lip while Bay and Carol shared a smile. "Is she asleep?" Bay asked the other woman.

"No. Just resting."

"Maybe you should go see her." Bay suggested to Daryl and nudged him slightly with her elbow.

"Dunno." he muttered and shrugged almost bashfully. Bay almost squealed because it was so cute. This grown ass man was now too shy to go downstairs and face the little girl he had saved and who was now thinking of him as her hero. She knew he didn't know how to react to that and that it had him reluctant to go. He was probably scared of being rude to the girl, just because he didn't know the right thing to say to her.

"I think she would like to see you." Carol smiled.

"Yeah, come on. I wanna go downstairs anyway, get some of that peach pie Beth baked today." Bay didn't leave room for discussion. She got up and pulled on his hand, making him get up, too.

"Fine... " Daryl grumbled and followed the woman downstairs. He really had no clue what to say to Sophia, and he didn't like those kinds of situations. When they reached the door to the guest room, Bay fought a grin when Daryl stopped right in front of it.

"Go ahead. I'll take some pie upstairs for you when I go back up. Come on, Carol. I might need your help cutting the pie." She winked at Carol, making her fight a laugh. It was funny how two women had to force a 32-year old man to talk to an 11-year old girl.

Daryl took a deep breath, not wanting to do this at all, but he knew he had no choice. When the two women had left, he lightly knocked on the door and entered the room. Sophia's eyes widened slightly and she got red in the face, but she was unable to keep herself from smiling.

"Hey." Daryl said and cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Hi, Mr. Dixon." Sophia smiled shyly and averted her gaze as her face got even redder.

"You can say Daryl... " he told her. He hated being called Mister, for whatever reason.

"Okay." she giggled and looked up at him expectantly when he didn't say anything for a moment.

"How you feeling?" he finally asked while he leaned his back against the wall right next to the door.

"I feel good. My leg still hurts, but Mr. Greene says that it will stop hurting soon."

"That's good." Awkward silence again. "Got your picture. Did a nice job on that."

"Thank you." she looked away again. She would have loved to hide under the covers, because she just kept blushing and blushing. She didn't know why, but thinking of Mr. Dixon and now seeing him made her blush now. The adults soon realized what was going on, but it would take about two more years until Sophia herself would be old enough to realize that she had developed a little crush on her savior. For now she just giggled her way through her inexplicable embarrassment.

* * *

"Is there a slice of pie left for me?"

Bay was just putting two slices on a plate for herself and Daryl when she heard Rick's voice behind her. The former sheriff had kept his distance for two days, but now it looked like he was ready to sort things out.

"Of course." Bay took another plate out of the cabinet and scooped another slice on it. "Here you go."

"Thanks." he took the plate and the dessert fork from her, then he walked closer and leaned his hip against the counter right next to her. "I'm sorry."

"I know." Bay replied, surprising Rick.

"You know?"

"Yes. I figured. I trust my gut, and my gut said that I am not wrong about you."

"What does your gut tell you about me?"

"That you are a good man. A strong protector... but like a lot of other people, you also have another side, and it finally showed a couple of days ago. You like to be in control. You like having power. You like having a say in things. In **all **things and you don't like people who push back. Unfortunately for both of us, I do push back when I feel like I'm being wronged. Don't let my generosity or my size fool you. I am not a push-over. I am perfectly able to fight back."

"I saw that." Rick nodded. "I respect that. I like you. It's not true that I don't like people who push back. I admire when people have strength and a backbone... It just means that we might disagree more often."

"Maybe. Maybe not. I think we could get along just fine, as long as you keep a clear head. Just take a moment and think before you go putting blame on people. That's all I'm saying."

"I was wrong." Rick admitted. "I could have handled it differently. It was a lot to take in." he took a moment, before he leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "I knew... about her and Shane..." Rick assumed that Lori had told Bay everything and not just about the baby.

Bay looked up at him in surprise and he laughed sadly.

"I knew after a day or two. The way they looked at each other, how they acted around each other. The looks the others gave me. Wasn't hard to put two and two together. I never confronted her... I just tried to work through it myself. Tell myself that it was okay, because they thought I was dead..."

"But it's not okay." Bay finished his sentence for him.

"No. It's not." Rick sighed. "We gotta keep an eye on Shane. He's my brother, but... I don't know. My gut tells me something is coming. And it ain't good. If he thinks the baby is his... " Rick started shaking his head, then he put the plate down and rubbed his face hard. "Just... let's keep this between us, alright? Don't tell anyone. I don't know why I even told you. But when you see something..."

"I'll let you know."

"Thanks." he smiled slightly and put his hand on her shoulder. "We good again?"

"Yes, Rick. We're good. Let's try to keep it that way." she smiled and reached up to squeeze his hand.

Outside the kitchen window, Shane was lurking in the shadows during his watch. He watched the scene between Bay and Rick through the scope of his rifle. _Would be so easy... Just gotta pull the trigger and all my problems are gone. _Shane's finger moved towards the trigger, his breath starting to come out in shallow bursts. It had to be done. Rick had wronged him in more ways than one. It had been him, Shane, who'd kept the group together back at the quarry. He had managed just fine and then Rick came barging in, taking control and taking back his family, just like that. And nobody even questioned it. Not even the dumbass redneck. No, they all followed Rick like stupid little puppies that had been promised a treat. It would be their downfall, because Rick didn't have what it takes. Shane was convinced of that. Rick wasn't able to make the hard decisions. He had to go.

Shane looked up when he heard a twig snap behind him. _Dammit! _He lowered the rifle when he spotted Glenn, who had taken the early watch shift again, this time with Shane and not with Dale.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Glenn wasn't quite able to believe his eyes. Had Shane really just pointed the rifle at Rick through the window? More than one alarm bell went off in Glenn's head and he started to get nervous and a little scared of the intense man in front of him.

"Just checking the perimeter. All clear back here. I'll head towards the gate, you should check the field behind the stables." Shane acted like nothing happened, and Glenn let him. He was smart enough not to antagonize the volatile man with the rifle and tons more shooting practice than he had. Shane took off and Glenn remained standing there, chilled to the bone. Suddenly one human had become scarier to him than any of the walkers he had encountered so far.

* * *

**Thank you so so much for reading!**

**Love all of you. I know I'm still bad about replying, I am just running out of time so fast these days, I am really really sorry. **

**So, I have this new thing going on. You lovely readers can now send me song lyrics/gifs/pics/videos or the links to all of the aforementioned, when it reminds you of Bay and Daryl and/or you want to see it mentioned/happening in the story. You can contact me on tumblr, you can write me pm's or you can send me an e-mail at jaylee8301 at gmail dot com**

**You can do it anonymously or give a fake name, fake e-mail, whatever. Can be smut/romance/silly stuff, whatever you come across, IF you ever come across anything that reminds you of this story. I am well aware that not everybody is as involved in this story as I am, lol.**

**Let's have some fun. Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews, messages and all around love, kindness and support. I hope I'm able to give back enough.**

**Many many thanks to:**

**An Amber Pen**

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**DarylDixon'sLover**

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**CrossingRUBYCon**


	31. Chapter 31

**Chapter 31**

Glenn had a dilemma on his hands. He **had to **let Rick know what he had seen, but if Rick would confront Shane, then Shane would immediately know, that it had been Glenn who had tattled. _But won't he expect me to tell Rick anyway? Oh God, what if he decides to take __**me **__out, because I saw him aim his rifle at Rick and he knows that I will tell? _Glenn felt extremely tempted to go inside and end his watch early, because it felt like being out there alone with Shane in the dark wasn't the best idea. He couldn't do that, though. He didn't want to alarm the whole group to what might be going on, even thought it might not be the worst idea. It would made everybody keep an eye on Shane. Glenn really didn't know what to do. For the remainder of his shift he stayed close to the house after checking behind the stables. It made him feel safer, and this time he didn't mean safer from the walkers, but from one of their own. By the time they got relieved by T-Dog and Dale, Glenn had decided to talk to Maggie about what he had seen first, then he would discuss the next step with her. Going right to Rick didn't seem right to him. He didn't think he should rile up Shane even more, but instead, give him a false sense of security. Shane would sure watch him from now on and avoiding Rick for the night might give Glenn himself some safety from the volatile deputy.

* * *

"Boop!" Bay pushed her index finger against Daryl's nose, making a silly noise while doing it, before she erupted into giggles at the look he was giving her.

"The hell?" he looked at her like she had lost her mind. "You're fucking drunk."

"I'm not." Bay wiped tears from her eyes from laughing so hard. She really was tipsy, because they'd had wine to go with dinner and she had had a whiskey with Maggie and the men, shortly before they had gone upstairs. "I'm tipsy, not drunk. Can't hold my liquor anymore."

"Obviously." Daryl grumbled. "Ya ain't 3... You're 30. Act like it."

"Hey... why so serious? You're so serious all the time now." she stopped laughing and looked at him with a mix of concern and sadness. She missed the goofy boy he'd sometimes been when they'd had their "5 minutes of crazy" as they had called it.

"Ain't nothin' left to laugh about."

"That's not true." Bay smiled and gently rubbed her thumb along his jawline. "I'm still here and I am still clumsy as hell. Tons of mishaps to laugh about. I gave myself a huge bruise on the forehead while mopping the floors."

"Ain't funny." Daryl said without emotion. "You getting hurt ain't never been funny to me."

"It was just a bruise."

"Ya gotta be careful. You ain't been out there... You gotta watch your step and your back all the time. Can't be clumsy out there, girl."

"Good thing we are here now." she smiled, hoping it would be infectious, but unfortunately it seemed to have lost some of its power where Daryl was concerned.

"Yeah." Daryl mumbled absently. He wasn't able to put his finger on it, but his spidey sense was tingling. Something was coming.

"Okaaaay, Mr. Moody. You won't let me cheer you up, but maybe you'll let my try to distract you for half an hour?" Suddenly she had his undivided attention, which made her grin proudly. _Mission accomplished._

"Like what?" he asked with interest.

"Take your clothes off and I'll show you." she giggled and started unbuttoning his shirt.

"Yeah?" the corners of his mouth started to tug up. "You're serious?"

"Very much. Come on, help me." she smiled and knelt up before grabbing his hands and helping him to sit up in bed. She pushed his shirt off his shoulders and kissed and nibbled on his neck while her hands slid down his arms to rid him of the raggedy, old garment.

"You too." he said under his breath as his eyes rolled back in his head for a second. She had found the sweet spot on his neck and was making him hard by lavishing attention on it with her lips and her tongue.

"Take your pants off. Take everything off." she commanded him while she tore away from his neck long enough to pull her top over her head. They quickly rid themselves of their clothes, and once they laid in a heap on the wooden floor next to the bed, Bay propped up her pillows against the headboard and laid down comfortably with her head and torso nicely elevated. Daryl was confused for a moment, but when she crooked her index finger in a come hither motion, he grinned, because he realized what she was doing. _She hates getting a crick in her neck, too._ They had both enjoyed giving oral more with the receiving partner on top of them. He knew she was about to put her mouth on him and the thought made his dick jump happily. Bay noticed and giggled equally happy while she put her hands on Daryl's hips and guided him to straddle her slim form, and scoot up to her neck/shoulder area, putting his gloriously beautiful cock right in her face. Daryl gripped the headboard with both hands for support, looking down and watching her lift his cock up further with her right hand while she leaned her head to the side and pulled him closer, slowly letting her tongue lick his tight balls with relish. "Mmmmmm..." she moaned appreciatively, making Daryl grip the headboard that much harder when ripples of lust made him shudder.

Bay took her time and laved his balls thoroughly, sucking each one into her mouth and letting them slowly slip out while she kept sucking, until they plopped free with a wet popping sound. While she did that, she let her fingernails gently scrape up and down his lower abdomen and the top of his thighs, raising goosebumps on his skin, and making him squirm and shudder more and more. Low groans rumbled inside his chest and throat while he enjoyed what she was doing. He tried not to pump his hips, but he couldn't help press his balls harder against her mouth, wanting her to suck on them again. It was the best torture ever. She gave him what she wanted and sucked one back into her mouth and tickling it with little flicks of her tongue. She loved doing this for him. She loved when he took charge was "the boss" in bed, but every once in a while it was nice to have him squirming and be putty in her hands and have him silently beg for things. She only stopped when she felt a drop of wetness hit her cheek, right by the corner of her mouth. Mildly confused she released him from her mouth and looked at his dick, and immediately found the source. He was practically dripping pre-cum, his cock was partly wet with it. Bay followed the trail, one of the drops had taken down his shaft, with her tongue. She didn't mind its bitter taste. She never had. She welcomed it and appreciated it for what it was; a sign that she was able to give him pleasure.

Just when the tip of her tongue reached the little spot on the underside of his head, which he loved getting licked, she finally brought her hands into play. She let one hand cup his sack, gently rolling and massaging his balls, while she wrapped the other one around the bottom portion of his shaft, stroking up and down and massaging his length as well. She gave his hot spot gentle flicks with her tongue while her hands worked him, and when she looked up at him she had to fight a grin when she saw him biting his bottom lip in an attempt not to groan out loud. He failed miserably when Bay opened her mouth and let him slip inside. She licked circles all around his tip before she finally really wrapped her lips around the upper part of his big cock, and gave him a first suck.

"Oh ffffffuck, baby girl!" he bucked his hips, making himself slip further into her mouth. She let him, still having enough control not to have him make her gag, because she had her hand wrapped around him, preventing him from slipping in too far. She started bobbing her head in time with the motion of her hand, setting a nice and steady rhythm, only breaking it to gently suckle just on his tip every now and them, making him shiver and moan, and driving him insane with the need to finally cum. He was rock hard and felt wonderful in her hands and mouth. The suppressed groans and his harsh and heavy breathing were making her wet, making her wish that she had three hands, so she would be able to touch herself while she got him off. She was surprised how long he lasted. Definitely longer than he'd had when he'd been younger. She had never felt her jaw starting to ache while she had done this, but she didn't care about that at all. It was kind of exciting and only meant prolonged fun for the both of them. When she noticed Daryl's breathing starting to get more shallow she picked up some speed and changed her suction, giving him short, but hard sucks, kind of like little pulses. She did that faster and faster, and the faster she did it, the more he panted and moaned.

"Cumming! Fuck... gonna cum hard, baby girl."he bit out between gritted teeth, and he had barely finished his sentence, when she felt his dick contract and the first spurt of hot, viscous fluid hit her tongue. Daryl bit his own tongue while he grunted loudly and breathed harshly through his nose as his orgasm tore through him with great force. He hadn't cum this hard in ages and it was just what he had needed. When he came down from his high he felt exquisitely drained and relaxed. He gently grabbed Bay's chin in his hand and slowly pulled his softening length out of her mouth, when it became too sensitive. He tilted her face up as he looked down at her admiring her big, shiny eyes and that serene smile she was wearing, while a bit of cum had dribbled out of the corner of her mouth and was sliding down towards her chin. He gently wiped it away with his thumb before he scooted down her body a little and leaned down to softly kiss her lips. _I love you, _he thought, but didn't dare say it yet. It felt too soon.

"Feel better?" she smiled against his lips while they nuzzled their noses against each other.

"You really gotta ask?" he laughed quietly, and laid down on his side next to her. He stroked his hand over her breast, squeezing lightly, before he slid it down her body. "Want me to return the favor?" he murmured into her ear, but Bay put her hand on top of his and stopped him.

"No, I'm good. Your orgasm made me sleepy." she smiled. Her loins were pulsing with need, but just a little. She would appreciate an orgasm, but she felt like she would fall asleep before he would get her there. The alcohol was taking a toll on her. "Rain check?"

"Sure." he nodded and kissed her cheek, slinging his arm around her midriff now. Bay closed her eyes and held on to his forearm with her hands. Her head rolled to the side and she was asleep in what seemed like seconds. Daryl smiled and softly kissed her shoulder while he watched her for a moment. He still couldn't believe his luck. He was half afraid that his sense of doom meant that he was just dreaming and was about to wake up, but deep down he knew that wasn't it. He sighed deeply when the anxiousness crept back inside his body this soon after his release. He had hoped he would be able to fall asleep without it. This was why he wasn't able to laugh with her too much, because he just knew something was going to happen and he was scared that she would be taken from him again. _Nah... that ain't gonna happen. It __**can't. **__Gotta do everything I can to keep her with me. Whatever it takes, _he vowed to himself before he drifted off into sleep himself for a couple of hours before he would have to take watch.

* * *

"_You look different." the 10 year-old boy looked at Daryl with a frown._

"_Daddy got old." Bay stated and then burst out laughing when Daryl's expression started to match his son's._

"_Ain't old. Ain't creaking yet."_

"_Maybe not, but for somebody his age we're old." Bay smiled and affectionately ruffled the young boy's sandy blond hair. Daryl looked different, because Bay now knew what he actually looked like these days. Before she had always dreamed about the only version of Daryl she had known. _

"_Yeah... guess you're right about that." Daryl popped a grape into his mouth and leaned back on his hands. _

"_Daddy? Can I go hunting with you and Uncle Jess this weekend?"_

"_I ain't the one ya need to ask, boy. I'd take ya with..." Daryl shrugged and smirked at Bay. "It's your momma who needs some more convincing."_

"_Mummy pleeeeeaaaasseeeee!" the little boy immediately started begging. His wide blue eyes, which matched his father's perfectly, were looking at her pleadingly. "I wanna help shoot a deer. Please. I'll take out the trash for a week. I'll do the dishes, too."_

"_Nice try, baby. We have a dishwasher." Bay scoffed out an amused laugh. He was so much like his father, it was downright ridiculous. _

"_I'll load and unload that for a week. I'll clean my room. Pleaaaase!"_

"_I don't know..." Bay was hesitant to let him go out. He was her baby and she was scared of losing him. Yeah, maybe a little too much, but she couldn't help it. _

"_Come on, sweetheart. He's good with his bow. We could use his help." Daryl winked at his son with a smile, and the son turned his hopeful eyes back on her. Ugh, she had never been able to tell those eyes no._

"_Okay, fine." she finally agreed and went half-deaf at their son's joyful cheering._

"_Thank you. Daddy and I will bring you back the biiiiggest deer ever. I promise." The boy smiled and hugged his mother. Bay wrapped her arms around him and hugged him to her as hard as she could and held on for as long as she could while tears stung her eyes. She knew that their time was almost up. _

"_Anything for you, baby. I love you." she murmured into his soft hair._

The clock on her nightstand started ringing and Bay woke with a start. Tears had leaked out of the corners of her eyes and she wiped them away after she had sat up. "Gonna be one of those days, huh?" she said it to herself while she looked around and let herself wake up a little more before she got out of bed. She wasn't surprised about the dream. She had almost expected it what with Lori's baby news becoming a hot topic and the talk with Daryl about their own. She already knew she would spend most of the day being sad and melancholic and thinking about that dream. She would once again miss what she had lost. She couldn't let Daryl notice. He was already upset over the whole thing. Not that she blamed him. He had just found out and she knew it would take a while for that pain to take the backseat. Still, even though she knew that, she was impatiently waiting for it to happen for him, because she couldn't spend too much more time talking about this again and again, because if she did, then this dream stuff would happen more often again. She was in no way willing or able to experience it more often than it was already happening naturally. She would just have to force a smile on her face and not let anyone see that she was in a shitty mood.

Her thoughts drifted to Daryl. Being with him was different than she had expected, because he was so different now. She was still struggling a bit to adjust, because she expected him to react to things the way, he would have reacted eleven years ago, and then she was surprised when he reacted differently. He was still able to read her like an open book, but she had trouble reading him these days. It would take some getting used to that he was a bit rougher around the edges now, and that he had lost a bit of that beautiful laugh and smile of his. Before, usually when shit had hit the fan, they had been able to work through it together and had succeeded in trying to see the humorous side of things, but Daryl wasn't that guy anymore. He wasn't used to working through things with anyone anymore. She'd had her family, but he'd had no one. Only Merle and he sure wasn't much help. _He just has to get used to being a part of a team again._ Bay was sure that eventually they would be able to work out all the little kinks that were presenting themselves this time around. It would just take some time.

Bay finally decided that it was time to get up, so she pushed the covers off of her naked body and knelt up, lifting her arms up over her head and stretching out her limbs with a hearty yawn, when suddenly the door opened. "Jesus Christ!" she scrambled to cover herself back up, until she realized that it was just Daryl who had finished his watch. He quickly closed the door behind him and slowly let his gaze travel down her nude body. He definitely could get used to coming inside to that. "Hey... good morning." she greeted him with a little smile.

"Mornin'." he rasped while he shrugged off his crossbow and put it up against the wall. _Good morning indeed. _He went over to the bed, not bothering to take off his jean jacket with his leather vest on top, and not bothering to take his boots off either. He knelt on the bed right in front of her and put his cool hands on the warm skin of her naked back. Bay squealed a little and arched her back reflexively, trying to get away from the coldness permeating her skin, but it only made her front press up against his slightly warmer, clothed, torso. Daryl smirked and lowered his head until his lips met hers. He nipped at her bottom lip, making her open her mouth for him, giving his tongue free access. While his hands slid down to her ass, squeezing the soft, yet firm globes in his hand and making her scoot closer to him, her tongue met his halfway and they softly licked at each other a couple of times, before he deepened the kiss and let his tongue glide alongside hers into her hot mouth. Bay clutched at his lapels with both fists, making them press together even more. She moved against him, letting her hardening nipples rub against the smooth leather of his vest. She felt herself getting wet quickly. There was something incredibly erotic about him being fully dressed, smelling like the crisp, cool morning air, while she was completely naked, the warmth of their bed still clinging to her skin. "In a hurry?" he asked, and let his hands glide over her hips and up over her sides until he cupped both of her fantastic tits in his hands and squeezed them possessively.

"Mmmm... kinda... yeah." she gasped and pushed herself further into his hands.

"Alright... " he gave a curt nod, then he pinched and rolled both her nipples between his thumb and forefinger until he had her mewling and gyrating her hips, trying to push herself against his crotch. His hands left her breasts then. He slung one arm around her shoulders, holding her tightly to him while the other hand traveled down between her legs. He groaned unconsciously when he found her wet already, and since they were in a hurry, he didn't waste any time and let his middle and his ring finger slide into her tight, wet passage. He grinned when her breath hitched audibly and he watched her expression closely when he pressed the heel of his hand against her clit, letting her get some friction while she kept moving her hips. "Good?"

"Mhmmm." Bay moaned with closed eyes and licked her lips while she focused on grinding herself against his hand just right. Daryl started moving his fingers, but he didn't move them in and out of her. Instead, he curved them up against her front wall and stroked his fingertips back and forth, searching for that slightly rougher spot that would hopefully make things go from 'good' to 'better' for her. "Oh God!" Bay inhaled sharply when Daryl found what he'd been looking for. He pressed his fingertips against her g-spot firmly. practically hooking his fingers up against it, and started a quick and hard, jerky up and down movement with his hand. He was bumping his fingers against her g-spot rhythmically and at the same time he was effectively rubbing his palm against her pussy and her clit. Bay yelped and tightened her grip on his vest, pulling on it hard while he fingered her so damn good. "Oh God... oh God... oh God... ohgodohgodohgod..." she was mewling and moaning and gasping and all at once. He had never done that to her before and she had never felt anything quite like it. It was almost too intense to bear, but at the same time she craved more and more of it. It felt like she would come any second, but then again, it felt like she wouldn't be able to cum like this at all, like this sweet torture would just go on and on and on forever. It was indescribable.

"Better?" he asked, slightly out of breath from moving his hand at that fast rhythm, but otherwise he seemed completely calm and unaffected, and it really turned her on even more.

"Yes... yes... oh shit... Daryl... please."

"Be a good girl, Bay." he tightened his grip on her shoulders, pressing her against him hard, and looking directly into her eyes, which were staring at him with a desperate expression. "Be a good girl and cum for me."

"I don't know if I can." she forced out between pants.

"You can, and you will." he coolly stated. It made her shiver. She had a hard time understanding why his seemingly detached demeanor turned her on so damn much, but then again, she had a hard time remembering her own name in that moment. "Don't fight it. Just let it happen. Come on, baby girl. you want someone to walk in and see us? Want them to see ya getting fingered? Bet your pal Rick would just looove to see that." He didn't even know why he brought up Rick while they were doing this, but the jealousy and anger that crept into his veins made his movements get even harder and rougher and Bay's eyes briefly rolled back into her head at the intense pleasure he was giving her. The picture he had painted flashed through her mind, and even though she wasn't attracted to Rick, imagining him walking in and watching her with that piercing stare of his made her lose it. Daryl felt it, and he felt the tiniest bit betrayed by it, but he stuffed that feeling down and focused on making her come apart.

"Oh God... yes,... ohDarylohmigoshfuckfuckfuckoooohhhhh FUCK!" her body tensed, her hips started to jerk of their own volition, and Daryl felt her bear down, trying to push his fingers out of her. His dick started throbbing painfully when he realized that he'd done it right and that he would get what he wanted.

"That's a good girl... cummin' all over my hand..." his expression remained blank, but inwardly he was grinning proudly, when he felt her squirt a little over his hand. "Such a good girl..." he murmured when he slowed down his movements considerably and just gently pumped his fingers in and out of her for a moment.

"Fuck." Bay was still breathing harshly and now slumped against him bonelessly, only his body keeping her upright. "God... fuck..."

Daryl finally let a grin appear on his lips at her repeated cussing. He loved when he got her to do that. He pulled his fingers out of her and wiped them on his pants, then he grabbed her chin and tilted her face up, placing a big kiss on her lips. "Now you can go."

"Yeah... right..." Bay panted. "As soon as my legs start working again. Good Lord. Where in the world did you pick up that little trick?"

Daryl blushed and lowered his head, peeking up at her as he squirmed uncomfortably. Bay's stomach clenched and she felt like she wanted to throw up and then kill every woman on the planet who had come close to him, but she wasn't surprised. She hoped her disappointment wasn't showing, because she knew that it was unreasonable to feel that way anyway. "Look..." she took a deep breath to calm herself before she continued. "I know that it's different for men... I was pretty sure that you hadn't been celibate all this time. I'm gonna be honest, I am not about to jump up and down with joy, but I get it, alright? No need to look so guilty. It's fine."

"Never meant nothing. Was never more than once. Never really knew their names or kept in touch with 'em. This one girl... she showed me... wanted to get off before I fucked-" he stopped when Bay held up her hand with a pained look on her face.

"I don't need to hear the details."

"Right. Sorry." he cursed his insensitivity. He just wanted to assure her that it had never been anything meaningful. "I didn't even try to get 'em off... Jus' needed to get it over with. Never meant shit, I promise. Was never another Bay for me neither..." he mumbled, referring to what she had told him, about how there never would have been another Daryl for her.

"How many?" she was just a glutton for punishment that day. She didn't really want to know, but yet the morbid curiosity inside of her made her ask.

"Just three or four."

"Really?" she was surprised. She had expected the number to be higher. "In eleven years? Only three or four?"

"Yeah. Don't believe me?"

" I do... just surprised."

"Yeah... like I'm the guy who goes around, fucking every skirt that crosses my path, or what?" Daryl was slightly offended at her surprise.

"That's not what I meant. I know you are not that guy. Let's not fight." She kissed him hard and finally climbed off her bed and put on her robe. "You gonna sleep some more?"

"No. Gonna help out outside today. Repair the fence." Daryl replied and sat down at the edge of the bed while she pulled some clean clothes out of her closet.

"Okay. I'll go take a shower. See you at breakfast." She smiled and gave him one more big kiss before she disappeared into the bathroom.

* * *

It was a weird feeling to see Rick less than an hour after she had cum epically with the help of the thought of him watching her get fingered by Daryl. When he looked up and smiled at her, Bay blushed a dark crimson, which of course didn't go unnoticed by the man of the law. She averted her gaze and scratched her forehead (her nervous habit) while she approached him. "Um... hi." she said after clearing her throat.

Rick studied her with narrowed eyes, finding her reaction interesting and wondering why she was acting like that. Their last interaction had been sharing some laughs over whiskey with the others, so he wasn't sure what was causing the blushing now. "Hey." he greeted her back. "Sleep well?"

"Yeah. I've been thinking and I wanted to run something by you."

"I'm all ears."

"With Lori pregnant, we need to prepare for all kinds of scenarios. And not even just for her pregnancy, but in general. We need all kinds of medical supplies. Accidents can happen every day, small ones and big ones. Right now we are not really equipped for that, but we need to be. Instruments, machines, bandages, medication,... we need it all."

"You're right. Sounds plausible. What did you have in mind?"

"The hospital in Calhoun, maybe also the medical supply shop in town..."

"The supply shop sounds good, but I don't know about the hospital, Bay. Might be a lot of walkers there."

"I know, but the shop is not carrying everything we would need. Not even close. We need to get into that hospital. And maybe try some doctor's offices, too. Get as much as we can. Maybe with the hospital we can start with one wing, one hallway and work our way through. We only need to get into the supply rooms anyway. Maybe we can block the doors to the patient rooms and won't have to clear out too many walkers." Bay explained and watched Rick pinch the bridge of his nose as he let the plan run through his mind.

"It's risky, Bay. Maybe too risky."

"Yeah, but it might be worth it."

"I'll think about it, okay? Give me a couple of hours."

"No problem. I'll be outside." Bay smiled a little and turned to leave.

"Hey." Rick's voice stopped her and she turned back around. "Anything else?"

"No. Why?"

Rick shrugged with a little smile of his own. "Just a feeling. I'm here if you need me."

"Thanks." she blushed slightly again and quickly left for the orchard to harvest some fruit, leaving the sheriff to wonder what was going on with her.

* * *

A couple of hours passed and Bay was already in the kitchen canning some of the fruit for winter, when Maggie came in. She stood close to Bay and whispered in her ear. "We have a problem. A big one."

"What is it?" Bay frowned with concern.

"Glenn had watch with Shane last night. When Glenn walked around the house he saw Shane standing in front of the kitchen window, watching you and Rick. He said Shane had his rifle aimed at Rick and he was dangerously close to pulling the trigger." Maggie recounted what Glenn had told her shortly after he had come inside after his watch had ended.

"What?" Bay was shocked and her mind started racing. "Is he sure that's what he saw. It was dark..."

"He's sure. He said Shane's been acting kind of sketchy ever since Rick came back from the dead. Something is going on there. And with the way Shane's been acting around here... I think Rick's in danger. I feel like we all are, as long as Shane is around."

"Has he told Rick?"

"No. It can't be him talking to Rick, because Shane noticed Glenn. He acted like nothing happened, but you can be sure that he's watching Glenn now." Maggie didn't scare easily, but Shane definitely had her scared. The man had been way too unhinged for her to take this lightly.

"Can you find out when Shane will have watch tonight? As soon as he's out there, we can go to Rick. Glenn should be the one to tell him what he saw. Once Shane is outside we go upstairs, he can't look in up there."

"Alright. Good plan. Don't tell anyone, okay?" Maggie pleaded with her. She was scared that Shane would catch wind of it and do something to Glenn. She was seriously developing feelings for the young Korean and she didn't want anything to happen to him.

"Don't worry. My lips are sealed."

"Thanks. Just watch your back when he's around. I don't trust him." Maggie hugged Bay and left the kitchen, trying to find out who was on watch and when.

Bay's mind continued to race. She had a pretty good explanation why Shane would want Rick out of the way; Shane was convinced that the baby was his and wanted Rick gone so he could play Daddy. Bay just knew that Shane had something to do with Otis' death, so what would stop him from doing the same to Rick? She shuddered when she realized that the farm had suddenly become a lot less safe.

* * *

Rick took the news in stride. Bay guessed that maybe he had expected something like that to happen. After all, he knew Shane better than anybody.

"Whaddaya wanna do?" Daryl asked when Rick stayed mum. Bay had asked Glenn to include Daryl, because she didn't feel right keeping this from him and shutting him out.

"Same as before. Keep an eye on him. Watch my back..." Rick told him.

"You know he killed Otis, right?" Daryl said, making Bay's head snap up sharply.

"I know." Rick nodded.

"What?" Maggie shot up straight.

"Hold up... you know?" Bay asked in surprise, the same time Maggie spoke up.

"The whole story had holes in it... and he shows up with a dead man's gun? Don't take no genius to figure that one out." Daryl scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest, tucking his hands underneath his armpits.

"He killed Otis?" Maggie was near tears. "He needs to go. He's dangerous."

"We can't just send him away." Rick said and rubbed his hand over his mouth. "We just need to watch him."

"Alright." Daryl nodded. He trusted Rick enough to follow his lead.

"It's not alright." Maggie stated forcefully. "I don't feel safe with him here."

"He doesn't have any beef with you." Rick told her. "He wants me to go, but nobody else. You have nothing to be scared of. I'll figure something out. Until then, we watch him."

"And you better stay away from the windows." Bay scoffed. "And you probably shouldn't be alone at all. Especially not outside."

"Might not be a bad idea." Rick agreed with a sarcastic laugh. "We'll figure it out. Until then, we keep this between us. Agreed?"

"Fine." Maggie growled and stomped out of the room. Glenn nodded and followed her. Leaving Rick with Daryl and Bay.

"I thought about the hospital thing." Rick addressed Bay. "I wanna go check it out. Just from the outside. See how it looks."

"What hospital thing?" Daryl looked back and forth between them with a puzzled expression.

"We need medical equipment. People get hurt and we don't have the right tools. We need things for Lori, too. Only place to get it is at the hospital." Bay quickly explained.

"Bay suggested that we try to clear out wing after wing. Maybe find a way to block the doors to the patient rooms so we won't have to take out too many walkers. I wanna go and see how it's looking walker-wise." Rick added.

"Hospital might be completely overrun." Daryl stated.

"I know." Rick nodded. "But like she said, we have to get some things and we might need to take our chances."

"I also suggested Doctor's offices. Maybe try to get portable ultrasound machines and stuff like that. The more we can get the better. We have enough space for it." Bay added.

"Ain't the only thing we need to stock up on. Winter's coming and all of our pants are about to drop to our ankles with every other step." Daryl mentioned. "We should make a couple of runs. Hit some clothes stores. Get warmer clothing and bedding. New boots maybe, dunno. In case winter hits hard it won't hurt to stock up on everything. Like Bay said, we got space. I say we should check all the stores in the area in the next couple of weeks."

"We'll talk about it with everybody tomorrow. We'll make lists with sizes and with what's needed. Then we'll check out the stores and organize the runs. Good idea. We gotta be prepared." Rick said and started walking towards the door.

"We will be." Daryl said.

Rick looked at him and nodded. "Day after tomorrow, I'll take Shane and check out the hospital."

"Whoa, what?" Bay thought she might have heard him wrong. "You wanna take Shane? Didn't we just agree that you shouldn't be alone with him?"

"I can handle him." Rick stated. "I need to talk to him and I need to do it away from here. It's the best opportunity."

"You're crazy." Bay scoffed and looked at Daryl, urging him with her eyes to say something, but the hunter remained quiet.

"It's gonna be fine." Rick opened the door and looked back at the couple for a moment. "You two have a good night. I'll see you tomorrow." he said before he left the room.

"Whew... never a dull moment, huh?" Bay shook her head with a humorless laugh when they were alone.

"Don't look like it." Daryl said while he finally took off his vest and jacket. Bay thought it was a good idea to get ready for bed, and sat down on her desk chair and took off her boots. They quietly undressed and got into bed and snuggled under the covers.

"Weird day." Bay mumbled after they had cuddled in silence for a couple of minutes.

"Yeah." Daryl grunted quietly.

"Are we good?" Bay asked. She wasn't entirely sure about it. It was just a feeling she had.

"Depends." Daryl shrugged slightly. "You gonna tell me what's on your mind? Something is bothering you. Saw it on your face every time you thought nobody was lookin'. I know when that smile ain't real, remember? Saw it when ya were with the horses out in the field. Ya looked sad... This about this morning? 'bout me and the women?"

"No. I was serious about that, it's okay. You thought I was dead. Even if I wouldn't have been, I was no longer in the picture... You did nothing wrong." she told him once more and kissed him lovingly on the lips to reassure him. Daryl chased her lips when she pulled away, taking one more kiss from her before he kept asking.

"So what is it?"

"It's just one of those days... Lori and Rick having a baby now and you and me talking about losing ours... It made me dream about our kid again. I have these dreams every once in a while. About us being a family and doing things together. I expected it to happen, but expecting it didn't keep me from being a bit sad. That's what it was." she explained and traced the lines of the tattoo on his chest with her fingertips.

"What were we doing? In your dream?"

"We were having a picnic outside. Our son wanted to go hunting with you and begged me to say yes. In those dreams, I am always so damn afraid of losing our kid again... So I guess I said no before... This time I said yes, and he was so happy. And you were happy..." she tried to keep her voice as steady as possible, but it wasn't easy. Being with him and actually telling him about that dream now, made her emotional.

"Son?" Daryl smiled slightly.

"This time it was, yeah." Bay nodded. "It keeps changing. Sometimes it's a girl. In pink pj's with white rabbits on it, clutching her teddy bear to her chest while she clings to you, refusing to go to bed, because she wants to hear the story of how Mummy and Daddy met one more time... because Daddy is a hero in that story... he saved Mummy over and over again..."

Daryl swallowed hard as his heart started breaking and hurting again. He didn't know how Bay survived dreaming about the life they never had. Just listening to her tell him about it made it hard to breathe. Maybe she was right and they really shouldn't live in the past. It wasn't healthy, he thought and tried to stuff down his feelings again. He just had to shut it down. Stuff it in a box, lock it and hide the key very well. Maybe eventually he would be able to forget about that ache in his chest. "We should sleep." he said with a hoarse voice and reached over to the nightstand to turn off the lamp.

"Yeah. We should." Bay turned and pressed herself against him more and gently started kissing his chest affectionately, before she pressed her cheek against the tattoo right over his heart, letting his steady heartbeat soothe her and slowly lull her to sleep. "I'm so happy you're here with me, Daryl." she whispered sleepily.

Daryl didn't say anything, but he put his hand in her hair and softly scratched her scalp, making her purr a little before her breathing evened out. "Love ya, sweetheart." he murmured when she had drifted off to sleep, then he closed his eyes and tried to sleep, too. But sleep didn't come for a while, because the images of the dreams she had described kept trying to push back to the surface. That's when he wished he could get shit-faced drunk again. He knew that fighting this would be a bitch.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**I got asked one question a lot, which is: Does Rick have a thing for Bay?**

****Hmmm, does Rick have a little thing for Bay? I guess you'll have to wait and see;-) No seriously though. I think he has grown fond of her. She helped save his son and she is caring and nurturing towards his people. But I do think that there will be a special connection there between Bay and Rick in the future. BAY WILL ALWAYS BE LOYAL TO DARYL! PROMISE! But maybe, one day in the future, Rick will find himself attracted to her. Wouldn't that make for interesting situations? We'll see;-) Right now it's just building a friendship and a deep bond.****

**Hello and welcome to the new readers, thank you for joining us.**

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews. I love hearing what you guys think. It always puts a smile on my face and makes me literally giggle with glee when you pick up on things I think nobody even pays attention to. I love it. Thank you so much. **

**Dear Snowbird: Thank you so much for your continued support. I hope your car issues are out of the way now, and that you are doing well. I love your feedback. Sexy strut indeed. I love watching the part of "Still" when he walks down the road ahead of Beth. Gah, he is sex on legs. And yes, it is safe to say that Bay is starting to prepare for all kinds of scenarios. She knows what it's like to loose a kid and now she wants to help Lori to not have to go through it:) I hope you have a great week. Much love to you. **


	32. Chapter 32

**Chapter 32**

Bay bit her lip and stifled an excited giggle when Daryl began to stir while she rolled the condom down his turgid shaft. Once it was down to the base of his cock, Bay, who was straddling him already, scooted up further on her knees until she was able to align the tip of his erection with her opening.

"Mmmmhhhh, good morning." she moaned quietly while she sunk down on him, letting him part her folds and stretch her inner walls. The exquisite feeling truly never got old for neither one of them.

Daryl felt like he was having the best dream ever, only that it wasn't a dream. He felt tight heat envelop his cock, felt it getting massaged by that wet heat, while he slowly blinked his eyes open. "Baby girl?" his rough, sleepy voice sent shivers down her spine and made her contract her muscles around him once more. "Mmmm... damn..." he groaned low in his throat and let his eyes close again just as Bay started to move back up, starting to set a slow and steady rhythm, but she picked up some speed fast.

"Sorry for waking you." She grinned under labored breath as she worked herself up and down on his rock-hard length. "Wanted you... And it's never been like us to waste some good morning wood, right?"

"Damn right." he agreed with a slightly strained voice. "Fuck, sweetheart... Just like that... That's damn good." he cupped her ass in his big hands and helped her bounce up and down. She let him guide her for a while, but when she felt like she was aroused enough she grabbed his wrists and brought his hands up to her breasts, while she sunk down on him all the way, letting him hit the end of her. She whimpered quietly when the mix of pleasure and pain made her shudder, but as soon as she got used to the sensation, she started grinding herself down on him harder and harder, like she was trying to get him even deeper. She rolled and rotated her hips, slowly at first, but then more frantically by the second, loving the feeling of being so full and having her muscles clench down on him, mixed with the slight discomfort of having him all the way inside of her.

"Want it rough, sweetheart?" Daryl's voice momentarily broke her concentration, but it didn't make her rhythm falter.

"Yes, please." she whispered breathlessly and continued grinding on him erratically. Daryl closed his hands over her breasts and squeezed hard. "Yesssss!" she hissed and put her hands on top of his, squeezing her breasts with him for a short moment, before Daryl started manipulating her nipples, rolling them and tugging on them roughly. Bay let her head fall back and stifled her cries by biting her lip. She didn't feel like letting anyone listen in again.

"Wanna cum?" Daryl bit out from between gritted teeth while he enjoyed the view and the feeling of her using his cock for her pleasure.

"Yes."

"Touch yourself. Got my hands full." he said and pinched her nipples for emphasis. "Make yourself cum on my dick, sweet girl."

One hand remained one his wrist, but the other she slid down to her throbbing clit. It was so sensitive that she let out an involuntary moan when she touched it and she immediately started rubbing tight little circles around it. Daryl's eyes fluttered shut for a split-second when her pussy grasped him even tighter, but he quickly opened them again to watch the mouthwatering scene in front of him. It took all of his willpower not to grab her hips and pump his dick up into her wildly. He wanted her to cum first, before he would pound her into the mattress.

Her nails dug into his wrist as she started panting. Her fingers and her hips moving frantically as countless little moans left her mouth. Daryl gritted his teeth, lips pulled back into a snarl as he tried not to cum along with her when her walls finally started fluttering around him. "Oh... oh... oh... OOOHHH!" A loud cry left her mouth when she finally came apart, but as her body shook in pleasure, she quickly pressed her lips together, suppressing her sounds while she pressed her fingers down hard on her clit, riding out her climax while she clawed at his wrist with her other hand. Daryl gave her no time to breathe. Her velvety, wet walls were still contracting around him when Daryl lifted her off of him and knelt up. He pushed at her, making her turn around, and with one hand firmly pressed to the middle of her back, he made her get down on all fours. He positioned himself, letting the head of his dick slip into her a little before he grabbed her by the crook of her arm on both sides, pulling her arms behind her back, immobilizing her and making sure she wouldn't budge an inch when he thrust into her.

He eased himself inside slowly, enjoying the last flutters of her orgasm until his abdomen was firmly pressed against her butt cheeks. That's where slow and easy ended. Daryl pushed into her with quick, sharp thrusts, making her ass bounce and jiggle when it met his body with a loud slapping sound. Bay grunted with every thrust, just like Daryl, both of them briefly giving into their animalistic side as he took her rough and hard. All too soon Daryl released her arms and suddenly pulled out of her. He quickly pulled the condom off of his pulsing length and tossed it aside, then he quickly wrapped his hand around himself and pumped his fist up and down a couple of times until he shuddered and, with a long drawn out groan, erupted all over her ass, covering her tan skin with his creamy, white essence.

"Mine." he pressed out between harsh breaths as he rubbed her hips possessively, watching his cum run down her ass and between her crack, down to her pussy.

"U-huh." Bay nodded in agreement while she tried to catch her breath.

Daryl wiped the sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand while he looked around for something to clean her up with. He spotted her top on the floor and bent down to grab it, before he proceeded to gently clean the traces of their passion off her skin. When she felt like he had caught everything, she slowly straightened her legs and laid on her stomach, with Daryl dropping on his back by her side. They shared a breathless smile and Bay laughed a little. "Is it just me or is it even better than it used to be before?"

"Ain't just you." Daryl replied, still slightly out of breath.

"I feel like I'm able to enjoy it more. Which is weird, because I always enjoyed it. But it's different now. Isn't it?"

"It is." he nodded, as mono-syllabic as ever. "Also lasts longer."

"Yeah. That's right. It's more intense, too. Oh my God, just imagine if we had one of those joints now Pat used to give us. I think we'd die! For real. Death by gargantuan orgasm." She giggled.

"I'd still try. Would be worth it."

"Very true." she smiled and reached over to gently caress his face with her fingertips. "I don't wanna get up."

"Then don't."

"I have to. Lots of things to do. There aren't enough hours in a day to get everything done. Even with the extra help."

"I know." Daryl knew it all too well. The men wanted to reinforce the fences, and even though they worked all day, it felt like they were barely making a dent. Today they would even be two men down, because Rick and Shane would check out the hospital which meant that they would get even less done. "We should get down there. Can't be late all the time."

"It's okay. I woke you up early, so we are right on time."

"As organized as ever." Daryl gave her a little smile and a kiss while he rolled on his side. He added a little slap on her butt, making her giggle, before he sat up and grabbed his clothes. "Come on, you too, sweetheart."

"Yeah, yeah. Working on it." she sighed deeply, wishing they would be able to spend a whole weekend holed up in her room, like they had used to back in the day, but once again, they couldn't be that selfish. Everybody needed to pitch in. So she got dressed too with the hopes, that they would be able to have some quality time before they would fall asleep at night. With them working all day and Daryl having watch almost every night, getting enough time alone **and **getting enough sleep was not that easy.

* * *

Two weeks passed and the new, bigger group quickly grew into their new routines. On the outside everything seemed fine, but on the inside, things were starting to get tense between two parties. Number one being Rick and Shane. They had returned from their trip to the hospital banged up, bloodied and bruised. They had come to blows after an intense disagreement, but Rick had assured Daryl and Bay, that they had made up and would live together and be civil from now on. Neither of them believed it, especially since Shane got more intense with each day. He was quieter now and kept to himself, but there was an aura of danger surrounding him and it got stronger every day. Everybody felt uneasy around him, even Lori thought of him as dangerous now, and they were all glad that he kept his distance. The second party things were getting tense between, were Andrea and Lori. After initially bonding some more during the first week on the farm, things quickly took a turn, when Lori realized how all the women were working themselves to the bones, except for the former civil rights lawyer. Even Beth barely spent time with Jimmy anymore and helped harvesting and cooking and keeping things clean. They were all exhausted, except for Andrea, and Lori didn't like it one bit.

Today Daryl, Rick, Shane, T-Dog and Glenn had taken several cars to the hospital. It was their fourth trip. It wasn't as overrun as they had feared and they were cleaning out the floors one by one. Bay had given them some locations she remembered from her long stay there, so they knew where they would have to go first. Still, everyone was nervous and on edge, especially the women, who had stayed behind. They had kissed their men goodbye telling them to be safe and threatening to hunt their dead asses down if they wouldn't return. Now it was time to distract themselves. Bay suggested reorganize the basement. Hershel wanted the basement prepared in case something happened and they would all be stuck in the house or even in that basement for a couple of days. With Beth's help Bay had made a list of the essentials like water, food, sleeping bags, extra blankets, flashlights, etc. which they would put in one of the rooms down there for emergencies. They were lucky that the house and the basement were so big. It allowed them to stock up and prepare for things. They were also lucky that Hershel's wife Annette had been a bit of a hoarder. She had never been able to pass up a good deal and she had bought in bulk, mainly because the farm was so far out of reach and they hadn't had time to go into town and do their grocery shopping every day. They still had a ton of hygiene products, paper towels, bottled water, cereal, rice, pasta and canned food, which the women were now supplementing with their own canned fruits and veggies from the garden. Hershel would butcher a cow and some chicken soon to fill the freezer with meat and to make some jerky. The men would look for another generator and for fuel so they would be able to keep the generators running for as long as possible, so all the goods in the freezer wouldn't go to waste. They had started to cut down on their use of electricity. Only a couple of lamps stayed on at night and they switched over to camping lanterns and candles. Also shower time was reduced to 5 minutes per person. They were amassing batteries during runs which would help them have some luxuries, like listening to music every once in a while or use brighter LED lights for reading. They thought they were well organized and would be well prepared for winter once they had checked off all the items on their lists. It eased the minds of everyone a little bit.

* * *

"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?" Maggie looked at Lori with an incredulous look on her face, when the pregnant women tried to help her and Bay moving one of the heavy shelves towards the wall.

"It's okay, I can help push this thing." Lori waved her off with an embarrassed smile.

"No you can't." Maggie stated and put her hands on her hips. "You are already doing way more than you should."

"She's right." Bay cut in. "You know how it is. The first three months and the last three months you have to take it easy. Trust me, nobody is going to judge you for putting your feet up. Now go upstairs, take a break and have some water and a snack. We got this."

"But-"

"Upstairs. Now." Maggie told her sternly, but affectionately. Lori gave her a grateful smile and squeezed her shoulder, before she mouthed a thank you to Bay, and went back upstairs. "Alright. On three... One... two... three." Maggie said when Lori was gone, and the two "sisters" tried to move the heavy shelf to another spot in the room.

Lori spotted Andrea snacking on some cucumber slices in the kitchen, when she came back up. _Perfect. _"Hey Andrea, could you go downstairs real quick and help Bay and Maggie move a shelf? It's really heavy."

"I can't. I have to go outside and do watch. Why don't you help them?" Andrea asked, sounding bored.

"They told me not to. Can you please go down there and help out for once? I'm sure Hershel and Dale are able to handle watch duty without you for five more minutes." Lori was reaching her limit where Andrea was concerned, and she was no longer able to hide it.

"Help out for once?" Andrea asked indignantly. "I help out all the time."

"Yeah. You are such a productive member of the group..."

"I am on watch against walkers, I help keep the group safe."

"The men can handle that just fine, Andrea. They don't need your help. We do!"

"Oh really? Seems like you have a good handle on things, so what would you even have me do?"

"Oh there is plenty of work to go around. Caring for the animals, cooking, cleaning, laundry, harvesting... But no, all you do is sit up on that RV, working on your tan with a shotgun in your lap, while the girls work themselves ragged. Your behavior puts more burden on the rest of us." Lori was working herself up into a rage, but her voice stayed surprisingly calm.

"Oh is that how it is now? We're setting back evolution, going back to being caveman and woman? They hunt and protect while we keep the cave clean and tidy?"

"They protect us while we create stability and a life worth living, Andrea. You seem to enjoy the perks of that, so why not help out a little?" Lori looked pointedly at the cucumber slices Andrea was munching on. A cucumber Beth had harvested the day before.

"Are you kidding me? I contribute plenty. You're seriously getting on my case because I'm not doing the dishes or dusting the cabinets?" Andrea felt offended by Lori's claims that she wasn't doing anything around here.

"You're selfish. You're only thinking about yourself, Andrea. You don't care about anyone but yourself."

"**I **am selfish? Are you fucking kidding me, Lori?" Andrea started yelling and getting in Lori's face. "You are the one who is self-centered. You take all of this for granted. You have everything while the rest of us is piling up their losses. But no, not Lori. Your husband came back from the dead, your son, too, your boyfriend would kill for you, and now you have a baby on the way. You have everything! Now you play house and act like the Queen Bee and make rules for everyone but yourself. Those girls you are so worried about? They run themselves ragged for **you**. Bay is worried about **you**. The men are out there, mainly to get medical supplies for **you**. It's you, you, you, all the time Lori, and you really have the nerve to tell me that **I'm** self-centered? And how about you watch what your own son does instead of what the rest of us do?" Andrea was fuming, just like Lori.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lori reached a new level of anger when Andrea brought Carl into this.

"Do you know how many times I've heard the question 'Have you seen Carl? He's not in the house.' coming from you? Do you know how often I caught him wandering around in the dark? You want him to get lost, too? Seriously, it's like you want something to happen to him." Andrea hit Lori where it hurt and they both knew it. Lori kept quiet, they just stared at each other for a moment, before Andrea scoffed and walked out of the room. "Just leave me alone."

At the bottom of the stairs to the basement, Bay and Maggie shared a look. It had been impossible not to listen in. Like Lori had said, privacy was long gone.

"Lori had a point." Maggie said.

"She did, but that's all I'm saying about that. I am not getting involved in any cat fights. Who needs it?" Bay shook her head and took a step towards Maggie. She put her hands on the taller woman's cheeks and pulled her down to press a kiss against Maggie's forehead. "I love you. I'm glad that you're you. You are pretty cool." Bay smiled.

"And you are actually not as boring as I thought. Those sounds coming through the wall..." Maggie winked jokingly.

"Oh shut up." Bay mock-frowned and poked Maggie in the ribs. For years Maggie had teased her about being boring, because Bay had pretty much spent all her time on the farm, not interested in parties, boys and all the other things Maggie had been into when she had been younger. "Come on, let's get the other room ready. It'll be our own little pharmacy and medical supply store if the men are able to find some more good stuff."

"Only you and Daddy would get excited about that." Maggie laughed and followed Bay back into the room they had been working on.

* * *

_**Meanwhile at the hospital...**_

It was almost done. Just a couple of moments longer. This was his chance. This was the perfect opportunity to get rid of Rick without raising too much suspicion. Nobody would be able to prove that he'd had a hand in Rick's demise. This place was practically a deathtrap with walkers possibly lurking behind every corner. Nobody would be able to prove that he had just stood by and watched.

Shane wore the hint of a smile while he watched Rick struggle with the big walker on top of him. Shane had been smart enough to let himself get covered in enough walker blood when they had cleared the hallway earlier, so that the walker hadn't gone straight for him. _I love it when a plan comes together! _Shane thought of the quote Hannibal from the A-Team used to say. A show him and Rick had watched together when they had been younger. The fond memory didn't stop him from standing there and doing nothing to save his friend.

"This is it? This is how you wanna do it?" Rick bit out while he fought to keep the walker from sinking its teeth into his neck.

"You're not really surprised are ya?" Shane smiled cockily. "Thought I'd just stand back and watch you raise my child?"

"It's not your child. Shane. Just like Lori isn't yours. Just like Carl isn't yours. They never were."

"But they will be. Sure it's gonna be hard on them at first. Losing you again, this time for real. But they'll get over it. Just like the last time. As soon as our baby is born you'll be nothing but a distant memory. The others will forget about you, too. They'll finally have someone who keeps them safe. I kept them safe at the quarry. Until you showed up. You brought the walkers with you. Attracted them by having Glenn drive to the camp with the damn alarm blaring. It's all on you. You lost Sophia, too. If she would have died, that would have been on you, too. Just like Jim is on you. He got bit 'cause of you. We're better off without you, brother."

"You're insane." Rick grunted, before he started laughing. "And really stupid." Shane frowned and started shifting his weight when he got a weird feeling. "Did you really think I didn't know? Did you really think I paired up with you to check this wing without some precautions?"

Before Shane was able to say anything else, something whizzed right by his body and straight into the skull of the walker. Shane noticed the bolt sticking out of the back of the walkers head as it stilled and slumped on Rick. _Daryl._ Shane drew his gun and whirled around, facing the redneck who had quickly reloaded his bow and was lifting it back up to aim it at Shane.

"Just walk away, Daryl." Shane shouted towards him in a warning tone. "This ain't got anything to do with you. Just be blind and walk aw-" Shane's words cut off and were replaced by an unhealthy gurgling sound. He froze as his eyes widened in shock. Daryl's widened slightly as well when he realized that Rick had stabbed his best friend. He was mildly shocked. Daryl had thought they would just cuff Shane and bring him back to the farm and decide there what they would do. He hadn't thought that Rick would kill Shane, even though, deep down, he knew that it had to be done. Shane was a ticking time bomb and nothing would have stopped him from trying to get rid of Rick again. In the end it would have come down to this. Only one man left standing. Either Rick or Shane. Daryl was glad that it was Rick.

The former sheriff pulled the blade out of Shane's back and let his brother turn around to look at him with shocked eyes. The gun had already fallen out of Shane's hand and he now used his hands to cling to Rick as he gasped for air. Hot tears were streaming down Rick's face and he let out a sob when he plunged the blade of his knife back into Shane's body, this time into his chest. Daryl cringed and lowered his bow. It was tough to watch. To be honest, he hadn't thought that Rick would have had it in him. He saw Rick in a new light and with new-found respect. _He's really gonna do what's necessary to protect what's his. To protect the group. Maybe it ain't too bad to have him close to Bay. Means he's gonna protect her when I can't. _

"You're making me do this!" Rick cried as his heart broke into pieces. "This is you, not me! Not me!" Shane's legs gave out and both men slid to the floor. Shane was gurgling as he drowned on his own blood, clutching Rick's tear-stained face in his hands, before they limply fell to his sides a moment later. It was over. Daryl averted his eyes as Rick screamed and cried, the pained sounds coming from the group leader were affecting Daryl, because he knew what it felt like to lose something you loved. He knew that Rick felt like his own heart had been shredded and torn out of his chest. However Daryl didn't let it show.

He didn't know how long it had been, but eventually he spoke up. "We gotta go, man. We gotta get some supplies before we leave. Come on. Ain't nothing left to do about him."

Rick nodded and wiped his face before he stood up. He took one last look at Shane, then he turned towards Daryl, only to freeze once more. Daryl frowned and turned around, looking at what Rick was looking at with wide eyes, only to encounter the shocked faces of Glenn and T-Dog.

"What the hell..." Glenn stammered. The men had finished raiding their part of the floor and had come to help out the other men when they had stumbled upon the scene that was now presenting itself in front of them. The knife sticking out of Shane's chest made it obvious that Rick had killed Shane.

"Whatchu think you're doing? Put it down!" Daryl told the two men, who had suddenly raised their guns and were aiming them at Rick.

"It's not what it looks like..." Rick stammered and held out his hand in a plea for them not to shoot. "Please... I can-" He didn't got any further when shots rang out, but he soon realized that Glenn and T-Dog weren't shooting him. Daryl turned towards Rick and watched in shock how a reanimated Shane dropped to the ground once more.

"What the fuck?" he muttered as he approached the now fully dead corpse with confusion etched into his features. "Was he bit?"

"No." Rick shook his head.

"But he turned!" Glenn said as he and T-Dog walked up to Rick, Daryl and dead Shane.

"How can he turn when he wasn't bit?" T-Dog shook his head. "Are you sure he wasn't bit."

"We all have it." Rick muttered as Dr. Edwin Jenner's words finally made sense. Now he knew what it meant. They would all turn eventually, bit or not.

"Wha'?" Daryl looked at Rick with narrowed eyes. "We all have what?"

"The... virus... or whatever it is what turns the dead into walkers. We all have it. We're all infected. We die, we turn. No matter if we got bit or scratched or not." Rick explained.

"What?" Glenn couldn't believe what he was hearing. "How long have you known about this? Why didn't you tell us?"

"Jenner told me, at the CDC. I didn't know what it meant until now. What difference would it have made if you had known? Ain't like we can stop it." Rick sounded defeated. He didn't care about the men being upset with him. He had just killed his best friend. He had other things on his mind.

"It was our right to know. You had no right to keep it from us." T-Dog complained.

"So?" Daryl spoke up and stepped in front of Glenn and T-Dog. "Now you know. Now what? He's right. Ain't nothing we can do."

The men fell silent for a moment until Daryl grew impatient. "Now let's fill our damn bags and get out of here for today."

"We'll take care of it." T-Dog said. Despite Rick keeping things from them he didn't want Rick to have to raid a room with his dead best friend in it. "You take what we have and load up the cars. We'll come down once we're done here."

Rick and Daryl nodded and took the full bags from the two men, and gave them their empty ones. They left the hospital and once outside Rick took a deep breath of fresh air. He just stood there looking up at the blue sky while Daryl loaded their loot into the back of Hershel's old truck. "Thank you..." Rick's voice made him stop. "For having my back... For warning me."

Daryl had seen Shane sneaking around the house in the wee hours of the morning. He'd watched the former deputy remove the bullets from Rick's python. Daryl had told Rick, and both men had known what Shane had been planning to do on this trip. It hadn't been too hard to figure out. So instead of looting some rooms Daryl had stayed close to Rick and Shane, lurking in the shadows. Rick had never been in too much danger. If he would have wanted to, he would have been able to take out the walker with his knife right away, but he had wanted to know if Shane would really let him die like that. Daryl had his back and Rick had known that the redneck would step in when the time was right, so he had let Shane think that he would win this for a little while.

Daryl shrugged. "He was dangerous. Something had to be done."

"Are you okay with all this?" Rick asked him, knowing that Daryl hadn't known that killing Shane had been in the cards.

Another shrug. "I don't see you and I tradin' haymakers on the side of the road. Ain't no one who would win that fight." Daryl wasn't answering Rick's question directly. Instead he was telling him that he had Rick's back, and that he would never go up against him like Shane had. He trusted Rick's judgment.

Rick acknowledged Daryl's message with a nod. He was once again impressed by the redneck. After leaving Merle behind in Atlanta, Rick had never thought that he would ever gain Daryl's respect, trust and support. Daryl truly was a different man than his brother. Rick was able to rely on him and these days that meant more than anything else. He could trust Daryl to support him and to help him keep the group safe. Daryl was smart and he would be a great sounding board to bounce ideas off of in the future. Rick Grimes had found his new right-hand-man.

"What are we gonna tell the women?" Daryl asked when he was done loading the truck.

"The truth. No more secrets." Rick stated decisively.

Daryl nodded, but his eyebrows lifted and he sighed. He was not looking forward to going back and telling them everything, because he was pretty sure that almost all of the women would have something to say about what happened and Rick's little secret.

* * *

Lori and Maggie went outside when the cars pulled up, while Bay stayed inside and kept cooking lunch for the sure to be hungry men. She had heard the bike pull up and that was good enough for her at the moment. She knew Daryl would be in to see her, preferring to say hello in private anyway. Dale, Hershel, Andrea and Carol approached the cars, wanting to help unload, as the men got out of the cars.

Lori stopped short when she noticed Rick's expression. Something was wrong. Her eyes looked around the group members gathering around the cars, and that's when she realized what exactly was wrong. "Where's Shane?" she asked, getting the attention of everybody else. Finally everybody was noticing that Shane hadn't returned with Rick and the others.

Rick took a deep breath and looked at the ground for a moment. "Rick?" Lori asked alarmed as she got closer.

"He tried to kill me." Rick finally told everyone. "He set a trap, and then he watched me laying on the ground with a walker on top of me. Watched me trying to keep it from killing me. He just stood there with a smile, telling me that all of you are better off without me."

"No..." Lori whispered in disbelief, making Rick scoff out a humorless laugh.

"You said it yourself. He was dangerous. And he really was."

"It's true." Daryl spoke up. "Saw it with my own eyes."

"What did you do?" Lori was shaking when she asked him, because she already knew the answer.

"I killed him. I had to." Rick admitted, drawing gasps from most of the people around. Suddenly something inside of him snapped. "Oh come on, don't act so surprised! Every single one of you wanted him gone. Every single one of you was scared of him. Felt unsafe around him. What was I supposed to do?" Rick started shouting.

"Not kill him." Carol told him point blank. "We don't kill the living. Isn't that what you said?"

"We could have locked him up." Andrea said next, making Rick shake his head.

"Yeah? That what you think? Lock him in a room or tie him up in the barn and keep him there for years to come? This ain't no prison. It's not supposed to be a prison. You all saw what was going on with him. How unhinged he was. There was no other way. There was no way to keep letting him walk around here like nothing happened. He would have tried again and again to get rid of me. What was I supposed to do? Just lay down and let him succeed? I just killed my best friend for you. For all of us! And you have the nerve to look at me like you do right now? You all wanted this. All of you, but nobody had the guts to say it out loud, much less do it. Well I did it. It's done!" Rick stared everyone down who was looking at him reproachfully. He walked a couple of steps towards the fields before he stopped and turned around again. "You know what? You think you can do better, that you are not safe here? There's the road. Good luck. But if you wanna stay you gotta be clear about one thing... This isn't a democracy anymore." With that he took off . He needed to be alone and clear his head for a while.

While everyone stood around in awkward silence, Daryl grabbed a backpack and went up the steps and into the house. He dropped the bag by the door to the basement and quietly made his way to the kitchen when he heard music coming from there. As soon as he reached the doorway to the kitchen, he suddenly felt himself being transported into another world... or another time. There was his girl, cooking, dancing around and quietly singing along to the music that she was playing on a portable CD-player. He listened to her and the music, and despite what had happened at the hospital, he found himself quite amused by her choice of music. She had to be very sure that none of the kids or the farmer were around, or she probably would have chosen something with more kid-friendly lyrics.

_And then I put you on the bed and you ruffle through my head_  
_Never thought a girl I'd see but you're making me believe_  
_Lick my poison young, now I got you on my song_  
_You whisper I'm the best while you finger on my chest_

_I never be a lonely boy in a lonely world_  
_And yes I know it's true_  
_I close my eyes and I'm with you_  
_I'm yelling you the whole night through_

_In the middle of the night, when I dream of getting you_  
_Grab my hairs going crazy thinking what I'd do to you_  
_I'd rip off all your clothes as I'm breaking down the door_  
_I'd make you beg for more as I pin you to the floor_  
_Cause you'd be screaming oh, oh, oh_  
_Baby don't stop, no no, no no_  
_We can fire up the night_  
_Make me feel alive_  
_Fire up the night_

_Get up, fire up the night_  
_Come on, fire up the night_

_Hey, let's take our clothes off_  
_Now I'm going down on you, proving what I want is true_  
_Let me show you what it's like when you ain't afraid to fly_  
_To hell with all them girls cause you know upon my world_  
_I couldn't tell you why but I'm yours until I die_

Daryl smirked as he walked towards her on silent feet. He got a little kick out of imagining Carol's and Lori's faces if they would catch Bay singing about some guy going down on a girl, in front of their kids. He gently put his hands on her waist, alerting her to his presence, before he wrapped his arms around her from behind. He pressed a long kiss against the back of her neck before he nuzzled that spot and inhaled her soothing scent. He had missed this. They used to have this every day. It brought back so many good memories that it was bordering on painful, because he longed to have that time back.

"Hey." she smiled and put her hand on top of his for a moment.

"Hey." he smiled and put his mouth right by her ear. "The farmer know what a dirty girl you are?"

"Geez, I hope not. I wouldn't want him to have a heart attack." Bay giggled and turned her head to get a kiss from her man. "Mmmmmmm." she moaned quietly when Daryl pressed his lips to hers. A little wave of bliss rushed through her body at the contact. She wished they would have time to go upstairs and spend some time alone together. She would have loved to take off all their clothes and just cuddle naked, and kiss and caress each other for a while. "Everything go okay at the hospital?" she asked and broke the spell Daryl had been in.

"Not really." Daryl sighed.

"Why not? What happened? Are you okay?" Bay dropped her wooden spoon and turned around to face him. Her eyes scanned his face and his body, trying to see if he got injured.

"Rick offed Shane."

Bay's brows shot up and her mouth dropped open in shock. "He... what?"

"Shane tried to kill him. We were right not to believe that fucker. Left him no choice."

"Jesus Christ..." Bay swallowed hard. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Gotta be, right?"

"No. I told you before, it's okay to not be okay all the time." Bay told him before he pulled away when they heard other people come in.

"Imma help 'em bring the stuff down. Got a lot."

"Okay." she quickly kissed him one more time before he left, then she absently turned off the music. Now was probably not the time for some happy tunes. She was glad that the Shane thing had been resolved, but it shocked her that it had taken murder to get there.

* * *

The general mood was somber, aggressive and overall just not good. Glenn hadn't been able to keep quiet and had informed everyone about all of them carrying the virus. It was funny to Bay, how sweet, mousy, quiet Carol was now the first one to riot. First over Shane, as Bay had been told, and then over the virus thing. She seemed ready to hunt down Rick with a pitchfork like they were angry villagers trying to lynch Frankenstein's monster. It was funny, because she had never particularly cared for Shane, especially not when Shane had wanted to call of the search for Sophia. She seemed to have forgotten all about it. Now Rick was the monster and she thought something had to be done about him, which of course got her into a fight with Lori. Needless to say, the day sucked for everyone.

Bay hid out in the basement and organized the new supplies, and at night she shooed everyone out of the kitchen except for her sisters. She wanted to be alone with Beth and Maggie, like the good old days. They made a point of not talking about the events of the day. Instead they reminisced about family picnics and birthday parties and stupid mishaps that had happened over the years. Bay had hugged Beth from behind and had told her how proud she was of the young girl for stepping up and helping out so much. She had even started to help teach the kids during the day, since she still had her school books around. It was some good family bonding time, especially when Hershel joined them and started sharing stories with them. It was good for them to shut everything out and just be the family again they had once been. It was good to hear Hershel laugh and see him smile when he talked about a botched anniversary surprise for Annette, and it was great to hear Beth and Maggie laugh again. So while the rest of the group was still up in arms over everything, the family was able to relax and enjoy their meal and blend out the bad mood between everybody else.

After dinner Bay grabbed a plate and brought some food to Daryl who was still on watch for another two hours. She kept him company while he ate, before she kissed him and climbed down from the RV. She put the empty plate on the porch steps, then she went down to the barn, after having spied Rick sitting alone on the little roof at the side of the barn. She climbed up the ladder and heard him sigh.

"Came to tell me how much I screwed up?" he asked her. Bay had been the only one who hadn't been present outside earlier. He didn't know what her reaction was to all of this.

"No." she shook her head and sat down next to him. "Can't say that I wasn't shocked though. But I thought about it during the afternoon..."

"You think there was another way, too?"

"Sometimes there just is no other way. So no... I'm not gonna judge your actions. It's not up to me to judge. It's just hard to think that this is how things are now. Brother against brother. Kill or be killed. The worst part is, that eventually we'll get used to it. We are creatures of habit, so the more we do it, the more we get used to it. The Catholic in me has a hard time comprehending and accepting that. Even with the walkers... they were people once. It's hard not to think of it as killing when you take one down."

"Thought you knew that they weren't people anymore. Isn't that what you told Hershel?" Rick looked at her curiously.

"I know it. I understand it, but... I don't know. You know how you can influence your thoughts, but you can't influence your feelings? I can tell myself that these people are dead, that there's nothing left of their personalities, and I'll believe myself. I'm okay with that. But then you have to take one down and you see the human face behind the mask of death and I can't help but feel, even if it's just for a second, that I'm killing that person." Bay tried to explain how she felt to Rick as best as she could.

"Have you ever taken one down?"

"I have. They get stuck in the swamps. Otis used to put them in the barn, but when I encountered them, I put them out of their misery."

"That's how you have to see it, Bay. You're putting them out of their misery. You're not killing them. My first walker... I apologized to her. I know how you feel. But you are right... we get used to it. After a couple of times you don't think twice about it anymore. You just fight to survive and you put them down. It's how it's gotta be."

"I know." Bay nodded with a tight smile. "Just takes some getting used to."

"Yeah." Rick sighed, then he rubbed his face hard with both hands. "I'm just done today. Done with everything."

"You had a rough day. The roughest, probably." Bay acknowledged. "A lot of people are mad at you. It's hard to take. But you are strong. And you are a good man. You made the right decisions. They will realize that soon enough. Have faith."

"Faith... After all this, you think someone up there is still around?"

"I have my love back after a long, long time. Yeah, I admit, it took a long, long time of trying to keep having faith, but here we are... eleven years later and I am finally okay again." Bay smiled and reached behind her neck, unclasping her necklace. "The others will come around. Just takes a little time." she held out her cross necklace towards Rick and carefully dropped it into his palm. "My grandmother gave it to me at a time when I really needed it. She told me not to loose faith, that God would make everything alright again. Frankly, I lost my faith for a while... at least a little bit... until He sent me Daryl... and now He sent him to me a second time. It's done some good for me, so maybe now it will do some good for you. Don't loose faith, Rick." she smiled encouragingly before she climbed down the ladder to go back inside, hoping that she was able to help their leader a little on this grim day.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**In case any other non-Americans are not familiar with southern/redneck slang: "trading haymakers" means trading punches. I asked myself for a whole year what the hell Daryl meant by saying that to Rick. This chapter had more dialogue from the show than previous chapters. I just loved all those moments so much from Lori's and Andrea's fight in the kitchen when they listen in on Maggie and Beth fight because of Beth's suicidal tendencies, over to Daryl's haymaker comment and Rick's last words to Shane. Yeah, I loved Season 2.**

**The song is "Fire Up The Night" by New Medicine. Thank you to the wonderful, lovely reader who suggested it. You know who you are;-)**

**Don't worry, I'm still working through all your suggestions you sent me, folks. Takes some time, but I am not ignoring them.**

**thank you everybody for the lovely reviews. Hope you enjoyed this one as well. **


	33. Chapter 33

**Chapter 33**

"Writing down today's events for future generations?" Bay asked with a smile while she watched Beth laying on her bed and writing in her notebook.

"Can't hurt, right?" Beth sat up from where she had laid on her stomach on her bed and shut the book. "You okay?"

"I am... just talked to Rick."

"Is he gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, I'm sure he will be." Bay smiled and sat down on Beth's bed. "How's things with Jimmy?"

"We kind of broke it off." Beth shrugged, not too bothered by it.

"I figured. Never looked too serious between the two of you."

"It wasn't. Guess it was just about comfort after Mom and his parents died." Beth explained. "How are you and Daryl doing? You are so cute together."

"Thanks." Bay laughed a little. "We're good."

"What's it like?" The younger girl crossed her legs and looked at Bay with an eager and curious look in her eyes. "To be with him again?"

"Oh God, can't you ask me something easier, please?" Bay groaned and rubbed her face with her hands.

"Why? What is it? I thought things were good?"

"They are. It is just so different and a little weird. But not in a bad way. There's little things... like, he has chest hair now. Every time my hand lands there I freeze for a moment, wondering if I'm in the right bed." Bay explained and made Beth laugh.

"Really? Even after all this time you are still used to him not having chest hair?"

"Yes. I told you, it's weird... And I'm a damn hypocrite." Bay sighed deeply as she now stared at the ceiling of Beth's room.

"Why's that?" Beth asked with a slight shake of her head and a puzzled expression.

"I keep telling him to stop living in the past. To let go of it and focus on the present and the future. But now I keep feeling homesick. I long to be back in our apartment. We were able to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. We had privacy. We had a great life together. I miss working at Shoney's, and I miss coming home at night, seeing that stupid, adorable little grin of his when he would look at me... The way he would shake his head to get his bangs out of his eyes, just before he would lean down to kiss me hello. I miss that funny, goofy boy. I sometimes miss his softness. I love the way he is now, don't get me wrong,... just when he is so serious all the time, and when he seems so angry, I wish we were back in 1998, when we were more carefree and he didn't have this chip on his shoulders... I miss that carefree part of him. I know it's still in there, but it's very well hidden at the moment. And I guess it hurts a little that he is kind of distant... You know?"

"How do you mean? How is he distant?" Beth pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them while she intently listened to Bay explain what she meant.

"Gosh I feel ungrateful even thinking like that, because he's back in my life, what more could I want, right? But it's like he's unlearned how to be affectionate. We do things... obviously... and it's great, but when we don't do things and we just cuddle and kiss... It's like he just lays there and takes it, you know? He doesn't give back all that much any more in that department. He used to touch me all the time, even if it was just playing with my hair, so I guess I'm a little sad that that's gone. Boy, I do sound petty and ungrateful. I'm getting on my own nerves. But see? That's why I'm a hypocrite. I want all of the old things back and have a hard time focusing on the new things, just like him."

"Well, why don't you just apologize to ease your conscience and tell him that you feel the same way? Maybe that will help him. Maybe it will help the both of you to let go. And from what you told me, maybe he really has unlearned how to be affectionate with you. You said he was only with his brother and probably a lot of unsavory people, right? He had to be a tough guy, so maybe he just shut down. I know that patience isn't your thing, but maybe that is all it takes." Beth smiled at Bay encouragingly. "And yes, you do sound a liiiiiiittle bit ungrateful, but I don't think that you are an ungrateful person. It's just the expectations you have. You expect him to be the same person and he isn't. Let go of those expectations and you will be fine. You know what my Mom always said, right? Expectations only put pressure on yourself and on other people. Just keep an open mind, be open for surprises and go with the flow."

"She was a smart, smart woman." Bay agreed, before she reached over and squeezed Beth's hand. "And she sure raised you right. I'm glad to have you in my life, Ladybug. In the end it was all worth it because now I have all of you. And Daryl on top of that. I should count my blessings. And I will from now on. No more complaining. Open mind."

"Do you want me to remind you of that, in case you start complaining again?" Beth giggled teasingly, earning herself a poke in the ribs from Bay.

"Still a cheeky monster." Bay mock-frowned. "I love you, and yes please remind me."

"I love you, too."

"Alright, I'll let you get back to your writing. You have a good night."

"Thanks, you too." Beth smiled and plopped back down on her stomach to go back to writing.

Bay thought about what Beth had told her, but she decided against telling Daryl that she missed their old life, too. She just knew that it wouldn't help either one of them, especially not Daryl. They would just drag each other down with their longing to be back there again. No, she would have to be strong, get rid of her expectations and guide them both in the right direction. She would have to have enough optimism for the both of them, so they could built a new great life together and create wonderful, new memories. Well, as wonderful as possible in this bleak new world.

* * *

Four more weeks passed and things were running smoothly. A week after Shane's death things returned to normal and the only people left holding a grudge against Rick were Andrea and, surprisingly, Carol. The rest made peace with what had happened, especially since they all felt safer without Shane around. During that first week Bay had learned why Andrea was still mad at Rick. She and Shane had gotten closer, intimate even. Bay wasn't for the life of her able to see what Andrea had seen in the aggressive man, but to each their own. She got why Andrea wasn't quick to forgive Rick, but Bay did not understand what in the world Carol's deal was. She had kept egging on Daryl to step up and to do something about Rick. Daryl had declined every time, and had told her that he had faith in Rick, that Rick had done right by him and that the man had honor. Much to Bay's surprise (and chagrin) Daryl hadn't snapped at Carol, like she had expected him to. Maybe he just wanted to leave that to Bay, because after two weeks, she had snapped and had put her foot down.

"_If you want something to be done about Rick so bad, then do it yourself. You heard Daryl, he is fine with how things are going. You want something changed? Go ahead and do it, and don't send others to do your dirty work and risk their lives in the process." _Bay had lost her temper with Carol and had been dangerously close to slapping the woman when she had dared to look indignantly at Bay. Daryl had recognized the look in Bay's eyes and had quickly grabbed her elbow and led her outside to cool off. Ever since then Carol had chosen her words very carefully around Bay. The two were civil towards each other, Bay appreciated how Carol helped out inside the house, and also thanked her, but it was still clear that they wouldn't become the best of friends in the near future.

Daryl and Bay had had a little squabble of their own, when Daryl had noticed Bay's cross necklace missing from around her neck, the night after she had given it to Rick. He had started clenching his fists and pacing back and forth like a caged tiger while his anger erupted._"The fuck would ya give him that for? He don't need it! It belongs to you... nobody else. You know... gotta ask myself,... ya only came like a fucking freight train after I said that shit about your buddy Rick watchin' us... now ya give him yer cross... So you got a thing for the guy, or what?"_

"_If you really believe that, then you're insane, Daryl."_

"_Don't think I don't see him touchin' up on you and shit."_

"_Daryl, that's just how people are. Only because you are different, it doesn't mean that other people are weird or have a thing for each other. He is married with a kid and another one on the way. Seriously, do you really think I would even so much as think about breaking that up? That I would cheat on you? Wow... your brother's really done a number on you. You just can't trust me, do you? The funny thing is, that I never gave you any reason not to trust me. The other way around however..."_

"_Yeah, right, wanna start that up again? Yeah, I left. I made a fucking mistake and you would be right not to trust me. Yet you do. Want a fucking medal for that?"he had yelled at her, just before she had grabbed his pillow from her bed and had thrown it at him._

"_You're not sleeping in here tonight." she had stated. "And you won't sleep in here until you trust me. I'm not gonna do this shit every two days."_

Daryl had spent one night on the floor in the living room before he had apologized. He trusted her, but he hated her bond with Rick a little. He hated that she had given him her necklace. Daryl loved that necklace just as much as he loved her, because it was a part of her. She had barely ever taken it off. To see her without it just wasn't right. But, he eventually got over it and they were good again. They were all slipping into a comfortable life together. They had done good and had been well-prepared when a very mild fall suddenly turned into a very cold, early winter. Daryl had these new, black jeans that fit him verrrry well, and it Bay's mouth watering more than just a little. She had started to accompany him on his watch, when it wasn't too late and she wasn't too tired, and every time they were alone outside, her hand slipped down to his ass, just petting lightly, or sticking her hand in that pocket, sometimes squeezing playfully. Daryl let her. It wasn't too distracting and it wasn't like he didn't enjoy her showing him, that she still desired him. However, he still wasn't in the habit of returning her affections too much. Their sex was great, and while they did share their moments of intimacy and tenderness, they were extremely rare coming from Daryl, compared to eleven years ago. Bay stayed patient and didn't bring it up with him. She just tried to initiate it more often when they were by themselves, and hoped that eventually, he would get the hang of it again and reciprocate, instead of just laying there and taking it most of the time.

* * *

"Did ya take my gun?" Daryl was looking through his things while him and Bay were getting ready for watch, one night.

"No. I would have asked." Bay shook her head as she wrapped a scarf around her neck.

"Hm." he grunted with a frown, before he put his things back in the closet and closed the door.

"Think someone took it?" Bay was frowning as well, because she didn't like the thought of anyone coming into their room and doing some snooping. "You never misplace anything, so someone must have been in here, right?"

"Right." Daryl agreed moodily. He didn't like that fact too much, either.

"Gonna ask around tomorrow." Bay said and zipped up her coat, while Daryl grabbed his crossbow. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Daryl nodded and went outside with her. The previous team had just done a sweep of the fences, so Daryl and Bay climbed up on the RV first. She sat down at the edge while Daryl kept walking back and forth on the roof.

"Do you sometimes think about our friends? Or should I say former friends?" Bay asked after a while.

"Sometimes." Daryl admitted with a shrug. "Pat mostly. Screwed him over, too."

"Yeah." Bay sighed sadly. Now in retrospect she wished they would have taken the time to focus on their friends more. Pat especially. The breakup with Jessa had been very hard on him, and he'd had to go through it without his best friend, because Daryl and her had been too busy consummating their relationship. "Do you think he made it? That he's still alive?"

"Dunno. Might be. He's got skills... but if he went to Atlanta, I guess he didn't make it, what with them dropping napalm in the streets and all."

"Maybe he didn't go. He's smart and resilient. Like you. Maybe all of them are still out there. Maybe he's married by now, with a kid or two... or more. Think Erin and Sam stayed together? They were such a great couple."

"Dunno, girl. What's it matter anyway?"

"It's just something I think about sometimes. I like imagining what they look like now, and where they are now... Well,... where they were before the outbreak I mean. Now I hope they survived and are able to make things work. That they have a safe place somewhere, like we do here." Bay sighed again and stopped talking about it when she felt Daryl's reluctance to talk about it more. "Alright, wanna start making the rounds?" she asked with a smile, and got up when she saw him nod. Daryl climbed down first and grabbed her waist to carefully guide her down the ladder, as soon as she was far enough down.

"Thank you." she smiled and kissed him lovingly.

"Can't have anything happen to that pretty ass." he smirked and this time, it was him who gave hers a little squeeze. She laughed and was just about to pull him down for another kiss, when the door to the house opened and Lori came hurrying outside.

"Have you seen Carl?"

Bay and Daryl were tempted to roll their eyes at the question. Lori asked it about twice a day and it was getting on everybody's nerves, that neither Rick nor Lori, were able to keep an eye on their son. You would think that a sheriff would have a better grip on that kind of thing.

"No. We'll look for him. Maybe he's with the calf again." Bay tried not too exasperated. She just couldn't believe that after Sophia having gone missing almost two months ago, that they would watch their kid like hawks.

"Thank you. I'll look in the house again. Maybe he's in the attic or the basement." Lori said and went back inside.

"Come on." Bay muttered. "Let's see where he's hiding out this time. God, sometimes I want to strangle that kid. No, scratch that. I want to strangle the whole family. What is it with that boy and taking off in the dark?"

"Prolly feels invincible. Guess every kid feels that way at one point or another. Just look like he struts around here with that stupid hat of his. He thinks he's the next big thing." Daryl explained while he let his eyes dart around the area while they walked towards the barn.

"Yeah I get it, boys will be boys, but it's not like it was before. There are walkers roaming around now and they still let their kid run around like nothing ever happened? I understand that they want him to grow up as normally as possible, but there's gotta be rules. If he'd be mine, I would have grounded him the first time he ran off." Bay grumbled and jammed her hands further into the pockets of her coat. It was freaking cold at night now.

Daryl scoffed with a little smile. "If he'd be ours, then good luck grounding him. If he'd be anything like m-" Daryl didn't get any further than that, because a gun shot startled the hell out of them.

"The swamps." Bay gasped and took off running with Daryl hot on her heels. Hershel came out of the barn after having heard it, too.

"Was that a gunshot?" he asked as Daryl and Bay reached him.

"Yeah, coming from the swamps. Come on!" Bay tugged on Hershel's arm, making the man jog after them.

"Flashlight." Daryl told Bay when they reached the trees and he armed his bow. "Keep your gun ready."

They carefully, but as quickly as possible, made their way towards the swamps. There were no walkers around, but they suddenly heard sobbing and gasping breaths. Bay's heart about stopped beating when she realized who it might be.

"Carl?" she called out. "Carl? Are you here?"

"Bay?" she heard the boy cry, and the sobbing coming closer.

"Carl? Where are you?" They looked around, trying to locate the boy, when he suddenly stumbled out from behind a tree and into the beam of their flashlight.

"Oh God Carl! You scared the living daylights out of us. Are you okay? Did you shoot something?" Bay was on her knees in front of him in an instant.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." he was barely coherent and kept sobbing.

"It's okay, Carl. Just don't run off again. Did you shoot a walker?" he nodded, while the men came closer. "Are you okay?" Bay asked again and she froze when Carl shook his head. "Carl? What happened?"

Carl sobbed even harder when he lifted his left arm, revealing his bleeding forearm, which was missing a big chunk of skin and flesh. "It... bit... me." he pressed out with difficulty between sobs, shocking all three adults into silence.

"No... oh Carl..." Bay breathed, not knowing what to do or say.

Daryl felt helpless and sick to his stomach. This shit he didn't sign up for. He was not about to watch a little kid die. This wasn't happening.

"We have to take it off." Hershel's calm voice cut through their shock-filled haze.

"Wha'?" Daryl squinted at the vet, not sure that he heard right.

"His arm, we have to take it off. It might save his life."

"You can't be serious, Hershel." Bay gaped at her substitute father, but sure enough, Hershel was already removing his belt.

"No, no, no, no, no... please... no!" Carl begged when he realized what taking his arm off meant.

"There's no other way." Hershel said and knelt next to Bay and Carl.

"You're insane." Daryl scoffed. "How you gonna do this anyway? How do you know it will even work?"

"It's worth a try, isn't it?" Hershel said, as calm as ever, as he tied the belt around Carl's arm, just above the elbow. "Your knife, Daryl. And help Bay keep him down. Carl, you have to be a very brave young man, now."

"Nooo,... Hershel please, nooo!" Carl begged and pleaded under tears, trying to get away, but Bay and Daryl were already there to grab hold of him.

"Hershel, we can't do this out here. His cries will attract walkers." Bay tried to reason with him, but Hershel shook his head.

"We can't wait. We have to do it now, before that virus or whatever it is will spread. Your knife, Daryl!" he held his hand out for it, and Daryl gave it to him with a shake of his head.

"You're crazy."

"Maybe I am, but maybe I will also be a lifesaver."

"Rick and Lori..." Bay whispered in shock. "We should ask them... we should give him anesthesia..."

"We don't have time. Hold him down. Now!" Hershel pried Carl's arm away from his body, as Daryl and Bay held the struggling boy pinned to the ground. Both of them were shocked and sick to their stomachs, but what choice did they have? Just let him die?

Neither of them watched as Hershel brought the knife down into Carl's arm. Carl's anguished, pain-filled screams were enough to traumatize them both for years to come. They had seen a lot, but this... the sounds the boy was making chilled them to the bone, making them tremble and make dark spots appear to cloud their vision. They were glad when Carl passed out, because both of them were close to passing out, too.

"It's done. Let's get him back to the house. Now. Come on, quick." Hershel was not so calm anymore, and Bay noticed his hand shaking when she handed over her gun, because Daryl was handing her his crossbow. He would carry Carl back to the house. He was the strongest and fastest out of the three of them. They got out of the swampy area as quickly as possible, and in the moonlight they saw the others running across the field.

"CARL!" Rick was yelling and running toward them with Lori in tow, when he realized that Daryl was carrying his son. "What happened?"

"He got bit." Daryl yelled, making both of Carl's parents halt in their tracks.

"No... NO!" Rick shouted in anguish, while Lori started crying. They finally met Daryl and Rick tore his son out of the hunter's arms.

"Careful, man! Hershel took his arm off." Daryl warned Rick, watching the man's eyes widen in shock.

"What?" Lori was stunned, but when she indeed saw half of Carl's left arm missing, she broke down in a heap on the ground.

"It might save his life." Hershel was gasping for air. "I had to try. It was quick. Maybe it didn't spread."

"Get him inside. Go!" Daryl pushed at Rick, who stood there in shock with his boy in his arms. Bay helped Lori up and they all jogged back up to the house. Rick carried Carl into the basement into the room with a medical cot and all their supplies they had gotten from the hospital. Hershel knew it would have been more humane to put Carl under, but he didn't think they had been able to wait the 5-10 minutes it would have taken to get him to the house and prep for surgery. Now him and Bay did everything they could to make him comfortable, while they all waited with baited breaths whether he would pull through or not, and if cutting off a bitten limb was even effective at all.

* * *

Bay threw up. As soon as they'd been done with Carl she had rushed upstairs and introduced her dinner to the toilet. Carl's screams were echoing inside her head. The sound of the knife hacking away at the kid's arm mixed in with the terror-inducing screams would haunt her for the rest of her life. She was sure of it. When she was done she got up and brushed her teeth, then she went to her room, not surprised at seeing Daryl sitting on their bed. He was pale, just like she was, and for a moment she wondered if he had had to throw up as well. She kicked off her boots and climbed into his lap, straddling him, and wrapping her arms around his neck. When Daryl wrapped his arms tightly around her and pressed his face against her shoulder, Bay broke down. Hard sobs wracked her body as hot tears spilled down her cheeks. This event had been more than a little traumatizing and she had a hard time comprehending that it had really all happened. She was sad and horrified and at the same time she was unbelievably angry at Rick and Lori. This could have been prevented, if they only would have watched their son better.

"All they had to do was keep an eye on their kid." Daryl muttered, like he was reading Bay's thoughts. He was angry as well. Rick and Lori had their kid. They hadn't lost it like Bay and him had lost theirs, they even had a second one on the way and yet they didn't make sure that the kid was safe.

"I know, right? We all told them that they had to watch him better. Everybody saw him sneaking around places he had no business being. He had your gun. He was in here, going through our things. He took your gun and went to the swamps, feeling invincible. She almost lost him once, why wouldn't she pay better attention? Both of them? Rick could have made him stick by his side all day long while he was doing his chores. Why don't they make sure he's in his room at night? Or keep him occupied. I just don't get it, Daryl? Why would they be so careless with their own child?" Bay sobbed.

"They're idiots." Daryl scoffed angrily, but he gently rubbed his hands up and down Bay's back. He was offering comfort and taking it from her at the same time. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but he almost ralphed on the ground right next to the kid earlier. He was sure he would have nightmares that night. He wasn't squeamish at all, but this had been absolutely hardcore. He had no idea how Hershel had gotten through it. He only hoped that it would be worth it and that the kid would live. He also hoped it would teach the whole family a lesson. Too bad that the kid had to pay the price for his parents negligence.

They sat there embracing each other for a long time. When Bay's sobbing finally ebbed off, she took a big, shuddering breath and wiped at her eyes with her hands. "I need a drink. And I'm not kidding."

"I'll get us something." Daryl said, agreeing wholeheartedly with her idea.

"Don't just bring a glass. Best bring the whole bottle. Or two." Bay said while she went hunting for a tissue to blow her nose with.

"Got it." Daryl nodded before he left the room. If there was a good time to get shit-faced, then tonight was definitely that night. He really hoped it would help in muting the screams he was still hearing vividly inside his head.

* * *

**Thanks for reading!**

**So, what have we learned? Kids, listen to your parents, and parents, watch your damn kids!**

**This was inspired by real life. At daycare one kid is very badly behaved and doesn't listen to his parents. His parents have given up and it ended in the kid running into the street and getting hit by a car. He will be fine, but I hope his parents finally wake up. **

**So, I have some bad news. Chapters might be shorter, like this one, and/or my update rate will be slower. This will only be temporary. I am redecorating my sons room, complete with painting the walls, etc., I will get furniture delivered which I will have to assemble all by myself, I have mom-duty at daycare and also, Christmas is coming up soon, which means baking cookies and decorating, so I have a lot on my plate and don't get all my free time to write. Also, this story is very intense to write, for whatever reason. My brain needs a break in between chapters. **

**This won't be the case forever, probably just for the rest of the year until the busy times are done with, and I have more energy and time to focus again. So don't give up on me. I am not abandoning the story.  
**

**Thank you so much for all the follows and favorites and reviews! Love your reviews! I know I sent PM's, but thank you again so so much!**


	34. Chapter 34

**Chapter 34**

"How is he doing?" Rick asked Bay as he watched her checking Carl's vitals two days after he'd gotten bit by a walker.

"He's good. Not even an elevated temperature. I'm sure he'll wake up as soon as his body has dealt with everything." Bay replied without looking at Rick. She was in no mood to talk to him longer than she had to. She was still pissed off at both, Rick and Lori, for not watching their son better. She hadn't been able to sleep, because she wasn't able to get Carl's anguished screams out of her head.

"I can't believe he made it... that it really worked." Rick smiled. He was convinced that his son would be able to survive damn near everything after this. He'd gotten shot two months ago and had survived surgery under less than stellar circumstances, and now he had survived getting bit and having his arm amputated with Daryl's buck knife. It was a miracle. He got Bay's cross out of his jeans pocket and traced its shape with his thumb. "I gotta say this cross of yours is a miracle worker. Thank you."

Bay was barely able to keep herself from scoffing. "All of you got lucky. Word of advice? Don't push your luck." She shrugged and went past Rick without looking at him, in order to leave the room. "Between you finding your family, Carl surviving getting shot and this... there can't possibly be much more miracles coming your way."

Rick frowned at Bay's terse behavior and got up to go after her. "Bay! Bayanne! Wait!"

"Leave me alone, Rick. I got nothing to say to you right now. Go and do what you should have been doing all along... watch your son." Bay said without turning around, leaving a dumbfounded Rick behind, who had no idea why Bay would be mad at him.

* * *

Bay was hoping for a quiet morning, but her hope was squashed when she found Lori in the kitchen, preparing a snack for herself and Rick. Lori looked up when Bay entered, and smiled.

"Hey, how is he?"

"Good." Bay mumbled brusquely as she brushed past Lori and opened the cabinet to get out the tea kettle.

"Everything okay?" Lori was just as oblivious to Bay's anger, as her husband was.

"Sure. Everything's peachy." Bay muttered in a tone so sarcastic, that it almost put Daryl's usual sarcasm to shame.

"What's wrong? Why are you being so passive aggressive?"

"Are you kidding me?" Bay slammed the tea kettle on the counter and turned around to face Lori. "You are asking me what's wrong and why I'm fucking mad at you?"

"Woah... Bay!" Lori's eyes widened when she heard the woman curse for the first time ever.

"You do know that what your kid went through is **your** fault, right? That what Hershel, Daryl and I are going through and what Carl will be going through in the next couple of weeks, is all on you, right?" Bay shouted at Lori, when she finally reached the end of her pretty long fuse.

"What...?" Lori was flustered, not knowing what to say to that, making Bay even more furious.

"All you had to do was watch him! Keep your eyes on your kid, especially after dark. How hard can it be? If he doesn't listen, you make him shadow you or you lock him in a room and nail the windows shut. It wasn't our job to watch him, and it isn't our job to raise him. That's your job, Lori. Yours and Rick's. This is not like back when we grew up. He can't just run around unsupervised. He can't come and go however he pleases. I understand that you wanna give him his freedom, that you want him to grow up like a normal kid, but newsflash Lori... It's not possible. You can't act like everything is still good, and that there's no danger lurking behind every corner. You have to teach him to be careful, and you have to teach him manners. He sneaked into our room and went through our closet and took Daryl's gun. What if he had shot himself by accident? Yes, we all stole some change or a smoke from our parents when we were kids, but we didn't steal guns. Rick should have taught him a lesson about gun safety. You are not doing your job. You are not supposed to be his friend and make him like you, you are supposed to raise him right. Just do your fucking job Lori and stop looking at what the rest of us are doing. I have to side with Andrea on that. She's contributing. Not every woman on this planet is made for housework or cooking. She wants to do watch, let her do watch goddammit. Just back off and let her do her job while you do yours. I'm sick and tired of all the fighting that's been going on."

"You said yourself that we could use more help around the house." Lori said accusatory. "I wasn't the only one who thought that she could help us out more."

"Yes. You're right, that's what I said, but I changed my mind. I was wrong before. Watch isn't easy, you know. You have to be on alert all the time. You have to be out there in the dark and in the cold at night, watching the same area over and over again. I thought it wasn't hard, but ever since I went with Daryl a couple of times, I know that it isn't fun at all. Why don't you try and see for yourself? Maybe you'll even catch your son the next time he tries to sneak off. Maybe this time you'll be able to save him from himself, and spare us the damn nightmares." Bay spat before she decided to skip her tea, and left the kitchen. She didn't want to be around that family a single second longer. Also, she didn't want Lori to see her cry. Bay was still really shaken up about the whole thing. She kept rubbing her hands, because sometimes she felt imaginary warm blood spatters hit her hands, like they had when Hershel had hacked off Carl's arm. The urge to vomit accompanied that feeling, with a dose of Carl's screams echoing in her ears. It was wrecking her, and she prayed to God that she would get over it soon, because this was no way to live for a long period of time.

She stepped outside, only to see Daryl packing up the saddle bags of Merle's bike. She frowned and walked down the steps while she called out to him. Daryl straightened and turned around, when he heard his name, just in time to see her wipe away tears. He didn't care about himself, but he was mad at Rick and his bitch about their carelessness ending up doing this to Bay, and he was tempted to stalk into their damn room and strangle them both with his bare hands.

"What are you doing?" Bay asked as she walked up to him.

"Need to get outta here for an hour or two." Daryl mumbled with a sigh. He knew she wouldn't like that at all, but he just had to. He needed to get away and be by himself on his bike for a while. He would go on a run and at least do something useful on his trip.

"By yourself?" her frown deepened.

"I'm better on my own. I can look out for myself."

"I know you well enough to know, that I'm not going to change your mind." Bay sighed deeply, then she closed the gap and kissed him long and hard. "You come back, you hear? And in one piece, please." she whispered against his lips while she fought fresh tears.

"Promise." he nodded and gave her one last kiss before he straddled the bike and started the engine. He gave her a nod, then he sped down the long driveway with Bay watching until he was out of sight.

* * *

Bay was barely functioning while Daryl was gone. She knew that he was capable and that he knew how to take care of himself, but after what had happened to Carl, she was nervous about anyone going out there alone. Things could go wrong so quickly these days, and just like Carl, Daryl wasn't invincible. She tried to distract herself by doing extra chores, but her mind always wandered back to her man, hoping and praying that he was alright. Several times she reached up to her chest, in order to clutch her cross necklace, which she had always done when she had been worried and/or nervous, only to find it gone. It didn't help with her agitation, but she would never ask Rick to give it back to her. She would get used to it being missing from her chest after 18 years of wearing it day and night.

When morning turned into afternoon she sat on the porch, impatiently tapping her foot and wringing her hands repeatedly while she kept her eyes peeled on the driveway leading up to the house, and keeping her ears open, trying to detect the rumble of the bike's engine. She didn't like him staying gone this long at all. She was a nervous wreck.

"Enough. Come on, up!" Maggie eventually took Bay by the elbow and dragged her inside. They went into Maggie's room, where Maggie sat on her bed with her back against the white, wooden headboard. She pulled a pillow into her lap and motioned for Bay to get on the bed and lay down.

"I can't... Not when he's out there alone."

"You can and you will." Maggie stated, not accepting any excuses. "You haven't rested since it happened. It's time. Come on."

With a deep sigh, Bay admitted defeat. She took off her boots and climbed on the bed. She laid down and put her head on the pillow in Maggie's lap.

"There you go. Now just try to relax." Maggie started to stroke over Bay's brunette hair, and played with it a little. She knew it was something that relaxed Bay and made her sleepy. She hoped it would help her fall asleep, because the dark circles under Bay's eyes seemed to reach the top of her mouth by now. She looked horrible, and it hurt Maggie to see her older sister struggling like that. "Daryl is fine. I'm sure of it. He's capable. And even if he got hurt, we know that he will drag his ass back to the farm no matter what. Just like the last time."

"Not helping." Bay mumbled.

"Sorry. What I'm saying is, he's coming back. There's no doubt in my mind. Just close your eyes for a bit. You need it."

"I know." Bay was getting sleepier by the second. For a moment she felt a little pang, because she knew that Daryl knew that this would have been a way to make her sleep... but he hadn't tried. He had tried sex, but she hadn't been in the mood at all. All she had wanted was a little tender care, but he was still unable to give that to her. _Maybe just being patient and waiting for it to happen isn't the way to go. _It was her last thought, before Maggie's ministrations made her fall asleep.

* * *

When it was just thirty minutes until dark, Rick and the others started getting worried about Daryl as well. They started talking about going after him, but just in that moment, the loud rumble of the bike could be heard nearing the farm. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They weren't ready for another bad thing to happen this shortly after Carl.

They went outside and greeted him, and took the supplies off of him, which he had skillfully secured with straps to the seat of the bike. When Rick held a box of diapers in his hands, he looked at Daryl in surprise, but the hunter just shrugged. "It's what we do." Daryl was mad at Rick and Lori, but that didn't mean that he would let the little squirt suffer. They would need diapers, and the sooner they would start stocking up on them, the better. "Where's Bay?"

"She's sleeping in Maggie's room." Carol replied.

Daryl nodded and decided to leave her be until she woke up by herself. His girl needed to get some shut-eye, and he needed a shower and clean clothes. He was drenched in walker blood and guts. He went upstairs and debated just burning the clothes instead of throwing them in the hamper for the women to scrub. He grabbed clean clothes and his shower supplies, then he went into the bathroom and proceeded to clean himself up. When he returned to his and Bay's room, he jumped slightly when he spied Bay standing by the closet, putting on her gray, cable-knit cardigan for warmth.

"Hey." he greeted her, letting her smile wash over him.

"Hey, yourself." she walked towards him, got on her tiptoes, slung her arms around his neck and kissed him softly. "Good to see you back."

"Yeah... sleep well? Ya look better."

"Thanks. Yeah I slept alright. Thank God for Maggie. Looks like I just needed a little TLC..." she trailed off, not wanting to sound reproachful.

"Got something for you." he changed the topic and reached behind him, into his pants pocket.

"What?" she smiled and tried to take a look.

"Nuh-uh... Turn around and close yer eyes." he commanded.

"Okay." she had no idea what he possibly could have gotten her, but thankfully, she was about to find out.

Bay turned her back on him and closed her eyes. She heard Daryl fumbling around with something before she felt him come closer until his front touched her back. She frowned with closed eyes, wondering what the hell he was doing, but then she felt something lightly tap her cleavage. _Nooo... he didn't!_ Bay was giddy with excitement, but she kept her eyes closed. She knew for sure what he had gotten her, when she felt him fumble around at the back of her neck, on top of her hair. When he was done, he lifted her hair carefully before he let her locks spill over her back again.

"Alright... ya can look." he mumbled before he started chewing his lip again.

Bay opened her eyes and while she did that, her hand automatically reached up towards her chest. She gasped, and tears started to form in her eyes when she saw what he had gotten her. She knew it had been a necklace, possibly with a cross, but she hadn't expected something so beautiful. It was a silver cross again, but this one had small, sparkly diamonds in both bars, which were framed by the silver. In the middle where the vertical and the horizontal bars met, there was the outline of a heart slung around the jewelry, made out of gold. In the middle of the heart, there was an aquamarine gemstone, almost the exact color of Daryl's eyes. The cross wasn't as big as the previous one, and even though it was sparkly, it didn't look trashy or gaudy. It still gave the impression of being delicate and simple. It was beautiful.

"Ya like it?" He asked, his voice holding a hint of nervousness.

"I love it. It's so beautiful, Daryl." her voice cracked.

"That's mainly why I went out today. Wanted ta get you somethin'... to lift yer spirits I guess." he shrugged and looked almost embarrassed when Bay turned around and gaped at him. Affectionate or not, she was so in love with this man, it was ridiculous. He was so damn selfless and sweet,... he basically risked his life just to get her something nice.

"You did that... for me?"

"Was a bit selfish, too..." he admitted. "You're Bay... My Bay's got a cross... you not having one... ain't right."

"You are unbelievable, Daryl Dixon. You are still a dream come true." she smiled through her tears and kissed him long and hard. Daryl wrapped his arms around her and held her tight while their tongues moved in an intimate, slow dance. When they broke apart for air, they both looked down at the cross again. He loved seeing her smile while she looked at it.

"Ya gotta promise me something." he said next.

"Anything."

"I'm giving ya this to keep. It's yours. It don't belong to nobody else. Ya don't give it to anybody, but to me, if ya ever wanna get rid of it. Clear?" his beautiful blue eyes looked imploringly into her hazel ones and she nodded quickly.

"I promise. I'll never take it off." she vowed fiercely.

"Good." he gave her another soft kiss and leaned his forehead against hers. "We're gon' get through this. We gotta."

"Yeah. We will. Just takes some time."

"Guess so. 't least we're together."

She nodded, before she looked into his eyes again. "I love you." she declared in a heartfelt whisper. "Always will."

Her admission made his heart soar and finally put a smile on his face. He'd longed to hear those words from her for over a damn decade. His lips crashed down on hers and he plundered her mouth with an intensity that only he was able to muster. She loved it. She loved him, and she gladly gave herself over to him.

"Love ya." he mumbled so quietly, that she wasn't sure if he'd really said it. It didn't matter though. What he'd done today and by the way he was kissing her now, she knew that he loved her back.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**I suck, I know. I'm sorry. I didn't think my writing would be delayed this much. I don't know why, I can't explain, but the story is taking a lot out of me right now. Writing chapters is like pulling teeth. As some of you know, I also hurt my hand, and I have to speak the chapters into my phone, send them to my e-mail, copy them in here and edit them... yeah, no fun, but I try doing it every time I have a bit of time. **

**I don't want to go into detail, but I am going through some things and I need to work through it by writing. I can't do it with Bay and Daryl unfortunately, so I need a new AU story. Only this time it isn't AU, because for the first time, I will do a 'Real Person Fic'. So yeah, I will be writing a Norman Reedus fic, which will hopefully help me sort through my issues right now. I'm happy that some of you expressed interest in reading it, so I will give it my best shot. I'm nervous about it. Norman is so complex, even more so than Daryl and I hope it will turn out as realistic as possible. I might post a sneak peek to that new story in the next couple of days, before I post the first chapter. I don't know the title yet, but I'll let you know, in case there are more readers who would be interested in reading that. It will definitely be smutty and probably cover a big range of sexual activities. Might get freaky, lol, it's Norman after all. THE NEW STORY WON'T BE POSTED HERE BUT ON AO3! This site and RPFs don't mix unfortunately. I will provide a link on my tumblr as soon as I posted it. The tumblr I will be using will be jaylee8301 dot tumblr dot com  
**

**Thank you so much for all the love and support and the kind words in your reviews. I'm sorry this is so short and it took so long, but like I said... My body AND my brain aren't cooperating with this story right now:( Let me say it again, though. I am NOT abandoning this story! I just need to get the other story started and work on that for my own sanity.**


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapter 35**

_Bay slowly placed small, soft kisses on his shaft, starting at the base, where the corner of her mouth had brushed against his balls as well. Daryl's chest was already heaving, his breath coming out in quick pants. His dick was throbbing painfully, as intense heat spread out from his groin throughout his entire body. Her shy glances were not helping him to calm down, quite the opposite, actually. He had a thing for her being nervous, as wrong as that might be, but it couldn't be helped. _

"_What do I do?" she asked, biting her lip as soon as the words were out, while a light blush crept into her cheeks._

"_You know those spots ya work with your hands? Just work 'em with your tongue." Daryl bit out under labored breath, before he came up with something better. "I know it sounds stupid, but treat it like an ice cream cone... or a lollipop, but no teeth. Don't worry about taking in all of it, baby girl. I know I'm too big for that. It's alright."_

"_Okay." she nodded with a nervous smile just before she lowered her head again. She noticed a drop of pre-cum oozing out of his tip, and just like she would lick some melting ice-cream from an ice-cream cone, she leaned in, let her tongue slide out past her lips, and softly licked at the tip of his cock, catching the clear fluid with the tip of her tongue. _

"_Mmmmmmmm... yeah... like that." Daryl moaned low in his throat. "Fuck that's so damn good. Yeah... just lick it like that, baby girl." his eyes fell shut and the fingers of one hand burrowed themselves in her hair, while the other hand fisted the sheets. He had never pressured her, but secretly, he'd been dying to finally feel her beautiful lips on his dick. The reality was so much better than all of his fantasies combined. "Aaah..." he cried out when she engulfed his tip with her sweet, hot mouth, letting her tongue swirl around it experimentally. Within mere seconds, she had turned Daryl into a groaning and hissing mess, and he had to think of every gross thing in the book in order to keep himself from blowing his load spontaneously._

Suddenly, a loud noise made Daryl jump and made him wake up from his very pleasant dream with a start. He noticed Bay had shot up straight in bed, right along with him.

"Was that a gunshot?" she asked, her voice sounding sleepy and slightly out of breath from shock. Daryl didn't have to answer, because even more shots rang out in that moment. Both of them jumped out of bed and started for the window.

"Crap." Daryl muttered when he took in the scene. Then he quickly grabbed his clothes and jumped into them, while Bay tried to follow suit. "Nah, you stay in here! I mean it, baby girl. Don't move. Get your gun and stay here." he told her, and grabbed his crossbow before leaving the room in a hurry. Bay sighed and got her gun out of her closet, before she went back to the window. The men of the group were gathering outside around T-Dog and Glenn, who were on watch, and the bodies of five walkers, which were sprawled out on the ground. The sight shocked her. Until now the walkers had never come too close to the farm, and these five walkers had come walking directly on to the farm and had even gotten close to the house. Way too close. Bay didn't like this at all, and from the looks of it, neither did the men that were deep in discussion outside.

* * *

"This isn't good, man. Those two kept watch, and those fuckers still got all the way up to the house." Daryl kept rubbing his index finger through the scruff on his chin in agitation, while he talked to Rick.

"We reinforced the fences. If that doesn't stop them, what are we supposed to do?" T-Dog asked while he kept looking around for more of the undead creatures.

"I agree with Daryl. This isn't good. They never had walkers on the farm before and now there's five of them at once? I'm getting a bad feeling here." Glenn mentioned as he clutched his shotgun a little tighter in his hands.

"Daryl, can you track them? See where exactly they came from?" Rick asked their resident hunter and tracker.

"On it." Daryl nodded. He switched on his flashlight and looked around on the ground, leading the way while Rick followed him.

"Keep doing watch. Get Dale, Hershel and Andrea to help you out. Five people see more than two." Rick told T-Dog and Glenn, before he focused back on Daryl.

Daryl soon had an idea where the tracks were leading them, and that also gave him an idea of why the walkers had come. "The swamps." Daryl stated. "They came from the swamps. Ain't no fence there. And the shot and the cries of your boy drew them in... was noisy as hell."

Rick swallowed hard and cleared his throat before he spoke. "That was almost three days ago... I don't think that was it."

"It's winter. They're moving slower. They get stuck in the swamps... They heard the shot... and your boy." Daryl stated decisively while he looked around, squinting his eyes as he tried to figure out if more threats were coming lurking out of the shadows.

"Alright... We'll keep an eye on this area. Put up fences here, too."

"Yeah... the cold might give us some time before even more come wandering over here."

"You think there's gonna be more?" Rick asked slightly alarmed.

"There might be. Best be prepared." Daryl said and turned off his flashlight. "You go back. I'll keep watch out here for the rest of the night."

"Alright. Thanks." Rick slapped his hand down on Daryl's shoulder, then he went back to the house to talk to the others. The threat of more walkers coming to the farm had him concerned, but not overly concerned. With all hands on deck doing watch, they were prepared to take on whatever would be coming.

* * *

The next morning Carl finally woke up. His physical wounds were healing remarkably well, but his mental wounds seemed to be another story. He wasn't talking. To nobody. He was conscious and alert, in no way catatonic, but he didn't speak. He just kept staring straight ahead, looking right through everybody who tried to strike up a conversation with him. He wouldn't even talk to Sophia.

Lori was desperate, crying and not able to understand why Carl wouldn't talk to his mother. Bay wasn't able to stand her whining, so she dealt out another dose of tough love. "He knows." she told Lori.

"What? He knows what?" Lori asked her.

"He knows that you weren't there for him. That you didn't come through for him. He might not consciously understand what happened, but subconsciously he knows that you would have been able to prevent what happened to him. So stop crying, Lori. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. For once it's not about you. It's about your son and what he needs now. He is merely reacting to what happened. It's a normal reaction, so deal with it and be there for him. If it takes 10 hours of sitting next to him and listening to him ignoring you, then so be it. It's time to start being a mother, Lori, for God's sakes."

"Why are you taking this so personally? He isn't your son. This didn't happen to you, Bay."

"Andrea was right. You do take everything for granted. Even your son and your baby. Do you know how many people would kill for what you have?"

"And by those people you mean yourself?" Lori shot back. "When you told me about your miscarriage, you said that it was for the better. Are you changing your mind about that too now? Like you changed your mind about your opinion on Andrea?"

"No, I didn't. It was better that way, but I also told you that sometimes I miss that kid, right? I miss what I never had. I still want to be a mother one day. I want to have Daryl's child one day, but in this world? We might never get the chance to have one. We might never have a real family. And that's what's pissing me off about you, Lori. I might never get to be a mother. Daryl might never get to be a father, and you can bet your ass that he would have been one of the best fathers in the damn world. We would have done everything to protect our child, even if that would have meant having it hate us for a while. You and Rick, you get your son and a new baby on top of that, and you are trampling on parenthood with both feet. Both of you. So sorry for taking it a little too personally for your liking." Bay whirled around, ready to leave the kitchen, only to be startled when she noticed Daryl standing in the doorway, clutching the strap of his crossbow in his right hand, studying her closely. Bay brushed past him, when he moved to the side a little. He lingered for a moment and shot Lori a dirty look, then he followed his woman up the stairs and into her room.

Bay stood by the window, hugging herself and shaking her head. "She seriously thinks that Carl's 'accident' happened to **her**. That we should all feel sympathetic towards **her**. She's insane. She just doesn't see that she fucked up. The nerve of that woman. Telling me that this didn't happen to me... You and I... and Hershel, we had Carl's blood all over us. We felt him fight us, trying to escape the pain. We heard him scream. We heard his arm being hacked off. She wasn't anywhere near that nightmare..."

"She's a damn air-head. Just stay out of her way." Daryl said. He lifted his crossbow off his back and leaned it against the wall by the door. He went over to Bay and turned her around to face him. "She'll never learn. Ain't no sense in lettin' her rile ya up like that, Bay. Just stay away from her or you ain't never gonna get over this. Ya need to forget." he told her quietly while he gently wiped her tears off her face with his thumbs.

"Can you take me out shooting tomorrow? I need to get away for a bit." Bay looked up at him, begging him with her big, beautiful eyes, and Daryl felt like crap that he had to deny her that simple wish.

"Wish I could, baby girl. Can't do it with the walkers coming closer." he sighed and watched her nod in resignation.

"Yeah... Right." she muttered, and reached up to grab hold of his wrists. She turned her face to the side and softly kissed his left palm before she pressed her cheek against it again. "You've been calling me that more again lately... baby girl... I really missed that."

"Yeah?" he smiled that tiny smile of his, making the butterflies in her belly flutter, just like it used to back in the day. Some things never change.

"Oh yeah. I think it's sexy when you call me that. Always loved it." she smiled at him while she pushed her warm hands underneath the several layers of clothing he was wearing. When she felt the warm skin of his sides meet her fingertips. she slid her hands around to his back and gently scratched her nails along his lower back, loving how he squirmed ever so slightly while goosebumps formed on his skin. "I always loved you."

"Nah, you didn't. I loved ya first, remember?" he teased her. He was insanely happy that he was able to distract her, and make her smile right now.

"You did,... and I still can't believe it. I felt like such a moron at that party. Thought I'd made such a damn fool of myself in front of super cool Daryl Dixon." she giggled at the memory. "Never in my life would I have assumed, that you would start liking me in that moment."

"Didn't know that that's what it was back then... but it was. Prettiest smile I ever saw."

"There were a lot of pretty smiles around that night..."

"There were." Daryl agreed. "But you were different. Honest and real... 'nd so fucking cute." he rasped before he captured her lips in an emotionally laden kiss. It was fueled by the feelings his memories were letting wash over him again. Those confusing feelings he hadn't been able to decipher back then. Those first butterflies in his stomach... that subconscious need to see her constantly... the fear when he'd realized that she had been the one getting attacked by those rapists... getting closer to her, having her open her home to him... finding out she was into him... that first kiss... He was suddenly overcome with tenderness for the woman in his arms, and his kisses turned softer. _My girl. I really got her back. I'm the luckiest fucking bastard in the world._ He pulled back to look into her eyes. Bay got the impression that he wanted to tell her something, when he opened his mouth and looked like he was about to say something, but instead, he pressed his lips back against hers. And again. And again. He wrapped his arms around her neck and hugged her closer, enjoying the feeling of her lithe body pressed against his. "I gotta get back out there." he finally said when he pulled away again. "Gotta help with the fences."

"Okay." Bay was disappointed that their moment was gone, but she understood. Safety had a higher priority than love. "Be careful out there."

"Always am." he gave her another tiny smile, then he released her and walked back to the door, grabbing his crossbow and slinging it over his shoulder.

Bay sighed deeply, already missing his warmth and his scent surrounding her. She wished she would be able to just lay down, but unfortunately there were things that had to be done. She wasn't able to just hide out in her room like a sullen teenager. She took a quick trip to the bathroom to splash some water in her face, then she went back downstairs to finish up laundry duty.

* * *

The rest of the day was quiet, but mostly because there was a negative atmosphere in the house. Nobody was in a good mood, really, so there wasn't a lot of talk during the meals. Daryl and Bay hadn't sat down at the table with most of the others. They had taken their soup up to their room instead, eating by themselves, talking quietly about the progress the men had made during the day. A couple of more walkers had wandered towards the farm earlier, but the men had quickly taken care of them, before those things had even reached the fences. Silent weapons like Daryl's crossbow were good for that, unfortunately he was running out of bolts. He would soon have to branch out further to find a store that carried some. But for now they were cutting down on runs in order to make the farm safer, and for that they needed all hands on deck.

Daryl pushed his tomato soup around inside his bowl, using his spoon. He wasn't too hungry. Not yet anyway. After a couple of minutes he put the bowl down on Bay's nightstand, and leaned back against the headboard, watching his girl eat. "You mean it?" he asked after a while.

"What?" Bay asked, her forehead crinkled in confusion.

"You said I would have been a good daddy. Ya mean that?"

"No, not good... I said one of the best... and yes, I meant that."

"Why?"

"Because you are good with kids. You have a lot of love to give. You are a nurturer. A caretaker. An amazing protector. A great teacher. You would have nailed that job." Bay explained to him, her voice and her words leaving no doubt in Daryl's mind that she truly did mean it.

Daryl nodded in acknowledgment, before he started chewing his bottom lip, getting lost in thought for a moment. "I don't want you to come on watch with me tonight. Feel better when you're inside. Okay?"

"Okay." Bay agreed, and laughed when Daryl looked at her with mild surprise displayed on his face. "What? Thought I'd put up a fight?"

"Kinda..."

"I know that when you are asking me to do something, you have a good reason for it. You are only watching out for me. Why would I argue with that? Well, I might argue with you about something else in the future, but with this? I trust you. I don't have much experience with the walkers. If some more of them come stumbling on the farm tonight, I might only be in the way and put you in harm's way. I'll be a good girl and stay in the house." she looked down and closed her fingers around her brand new cross, reverently rubbing her thumb across its surface. "I'll miss you, but with this I feel like a piece of you is always with me from now on."

"Good." he leaned forward and kissed her before he got up from the bed. "Just try to sleep a little. I'll be back in no time."

"Sleep sounds good." Bay yawned as if on cue. "Don't know if I'll be able to without you."

"Try." Another tiny smile, then he was out the door.

Bay put her empty soup bowl on the nightstand, next to Daryl's still full one. She knew he didn't mind eating it cold, and that he would probably eat it real quick after watch, so she just left it there. She got ready for bed and snuggled under the covers, trying to think of Daryl to help her fall asleep.

* * *

Bay had fallen asleep quickly. She hadn't even really noticed. She didn't know how long she had been sleeping, but when she woke back up, it was still dark and Daryl wasn't inside yet. Bay sat up with a frown. She had a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach, but she wasn't able to put her finger on it. She rubbed her tired eyes, then she stilled and just listened for a moment. That's when she heard frantic voices coming from downstairs, and the whole place seemed to buzz with a frantic and nervous energy. Something was going on for sure. She climbed out of bed when she heard footsteps of more than one person on the stairs. She jumped when the door to her room burst open and an out of breath Daryl stood in the doorway, immediately barking orders.

"Get your jacket. Put your fucking boots on. Get your gun. Come on, move it!"

"What's going on?" Bay was utterly confused and just remained standing in front of her bed, asking him what was happening. Not one for using many words, Daryl strode towards her, grabbed her by the arm and pulled her towards the window.

"We gotta go. Now. Get your shit." He told her while he let go of her and went over to her closet to get his backpack out. Bay didn't immediately see what he meant, but when she focused and squinted her eyes, she was able to make out a dark mass that was coming closer and closer. She frowned, just before her eyes widened in fear. It was walkers. Hundreds and hundreds of walkers, moving towards the house. Bay was paralyzed in shock.

"The basement. We can hide out-"

"No, we can't, Bay. They're gonna tear this place apart. Ain't a bomb shelter down there. We ain't got time, just put your fucking shoes on, girl." Daryl shouted and tossed her boots at her. Her leather jacket followed, landing at the foot of the bed. "BAYANNE! Get a fucking move on. You wanna die tonight?" he shook her when she still wasn't moving, and finally succeeded in spurring her into action. Her mind was blank, overwhelmed by fear, she just followed his orders. She jammed her bare feet into her boots. It was winter and it was very cold outside, but Daryl hadn't told her to put socks on, so she wasn't thinking about putting socks on first. She had barely finished putting on her jacket, when Daryl grabbed her hand and pulled her out of her room, down the stairs and out of the house. He ran towards his bike with her, shooting at approaching walkers with his revolver. Out of the corner of her eyes Bay noticed Hershel with his shotgun, taking on some undead ones himself. The walkers suddenly seemed to come from all directions, surrounding the farmhouse, and closing in on the survivors. "Get on. Hurry." he shouted at her over the noise of all the guns that were being fired off.

"But Maggie... Beth..."

"They're leaving, too." he was lying, or at least he thought he was lying, because he wasn't exactly sure where everybody else was at right now. She could be mad at him for lying later, but right now all that mattered to him was to get Bay to safety and out of that death trap. He kept firing off shots, but as soon as Bay was seated behind him on the bike, he revved the engine and got out of there like a bat out of hell. Bay buried her face in the spot right between his shoulders and held on to him for dear life as he maneuvered them through the walkers. She looked up when a light flared up next to them and she realized with horror, that the barn, that had been housing their cattle again, had gone up in flames. She knew that all their animals were lost now. Her heart hurt for the lives lost, and she realized that this also meant that their milk and meat supply would be gone as well. If the fire spread, they might loose the house, too. The reality of the farm being lost already, hadn't sunken in yet. She thought they might go back in the morning, to pick up the pieces and rebuild what had been damaged. In that moment she didn't know that she would never see her home again. It belonged to the walkers now.

* * *

**Thank you for reading.**

**Thank you for all the support and the lovely reviews. We don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Germany, but I hope all of you had a gread Turkey Day. Now we just have to survive the Midseason Finale. I don't know if I'm ready for the heartache that is sure to come. Why isn't there a support group for TWD?**


	36. Chapter 37

Chapter 36

T-Dog, Andrea, Jimmy, the RV, the farm, their supplies and meds... their home... that's what they all lost that night. Happiness and relief over meeting each other on the highway had been great, albeit short-lived. Although it had only been one walker on the highway, it had still reminded them that the threat was very real and very big. It could literally hit them any minute of any day. Therefore they had quickly gotten back in the cars and headed east. Daryl had been reluctant to let Bay get off his bike and into a car with her family, but the poor woman was freezing half to death in her not very warm sleep outfit, and being on a bike would be worse than being in a car. There she was surrounded by Maggie and Beth, sharing at least some body heat and the warmth of the car. He was worried, though. He'd felt her body shake against his back, had felt her ice-cold hands when he had reached down to where they had clutched his vest, had heard her teeth chatter when they had finally stopped. He hoped she would be alright and not die from hypothermia while they were on the road. They had nothing. Nothing but the clothes on their backs, which in Bay's case, was next to nothing. Panties, Pajama pants, t-shirt, leather jacket and boots. No socks, no bra. Her nipples were so hard from the cold that they were hurting quite a bit. She crossed her arms, trying to put more warmth in that area to get the pain to stop, but it barely worked.

Soon they had to stop again. The car Rick was using was out of gas. He also needed some fresh air to gather his thoughts. They were now without pain-medication and antibiotics, and Carl had a freshly amputated arm. The poor guy was crying and whimpering in pain, while Lori held him in the back seat. It mirrored the way Maggie was holding Bay in the car in front of them.

"What's up? You out?" Daryl asked when Rick approached him.

"Yeah, running on fumes." Rick sighed. He stemmed his hands against his hips and hung his head. He was so tired of all of this. Every time they seemed to catch a break, it all went to hell all over again.

"What now?" Daryl asked, even though he had an inkling of what the answer was going to be.

"Gotta make camp here for the night. Make a fuel run in the morning." Rick replied exactly what Daryl had thought he would.

"You think that's smart? It's freezing, we don't have any other clothes. We have to find shelter somewhere." Hershel, who'd gotten out of his own car to join the men, asked their leader.

"I agree with him." Dale, who had also joined them, was on Hershel's side. "You're wife needs to be inside somewhere. She's still at that critical stage where it can all go wrong."

"We'll build a fire, but that's all we can do. We're stranded for now." Rick said, trying not to sound too annoyed.

"Rick, you need to get your boy to safety. We need to get him medicine, we need to get Bayanne warmed up, she's near turning blue." Hershel said in his calm but imploring manner.

Rick rubbed his hands through his tired face and sighed deeply while he pinched the bridge of his nose. "I know. I know all that Hershel, but there is nothing we can do right now. Tomorrow we'll look for fuel and shelter. It's out there, I know it, but we need to be smart about this. Let's get that fire started."

"I'll gather some fire wood." Daryl volunteered immediately while Rick nodded his approval.

"Thanks. Stay close. We need to stay together."

* * *

"Ya need to come sit by the fire. The car ain't warm enough over night." Daryl tried to coax a freezing Bay out of the backseat of the Hyundai.

"I just wanna sleep." Bay was barely able to keep her eyes open. The cold was doing a number on her. "I think my nipples are dying off." she murmured miserably, and if the situation would have been any different, Daryl surely would have released a little male chuckle.

However, he stepped closer and gently pried her arms away from her chest, before he slipped his hands under her jacket and her loose-fitting t-shirt. Daryl covered her breasts with his hands, making Bay shiver and making goosebumps break out on her skin.

"How do you still have warm hands?" Bay moaned quietly, relishing his warm touch.

"Ain't warm, just a lot less cold than you are." Daryl muttered while he felt her icy, hard nubs poke his palms. It definitely felt like they would hurt. He squeezed her breasts gently, trying to massage some warmth into her skin, and also, enjoying having her close for a moment after last night's disaster.

"Kiss me."

"Nah. Can't get distracted." Daryl declined, and only then did Bay notice that he wasn't fully focused on her, but that his eyes kept darting around in the dark. "Come on, let's get you to the fire. Forgot I had that old horse blanket in my saddle bag... It's waitin' for ya by the fire."

"You should give that to Carl."

"He's good. Rick gave him his jacket, and he's got on warmer clothing than you do. Now come on." he pulled his hands out from underneath her t-shirt and grabbed her by the arms to help her out of the car. He guided her over to the fire, making her sit as close as possible without getting burnt, and wrapped the blanket around her body. "Sit down." He sat down first and pulled her between his legs, cradling her in his strong embrace. "You can sleep now."

Bay didn't need to be told twice. She didn't even hear Carol, Maggie, T-Dog and Glenn arguing with Rick over their next steps. She closed her eyes and was immediately out like a light. Daryl stayed up all night, keeping watch and also checking her pulse ever so often in order to make sure that her body wasn't giving out. Across from him, Lori did the same with Carl. She was praying to God that he wouldn't get an infection now. The pain he was going through right now was bad enough. They needed to find shelter, food and water, fuel and warmer clothing... and fast.

* * *

The next morning they came up with the plan to siphon a little bit of fuel out of the other two cars they were using. They put it in Rick's car and took off towards the nearest town. The day was spent scavenging for supplies. There were a lot of walkers in that town, but they hadn't been able to go any further. They had had to risk their lives in order to be able to get out of town again by nighttime. They didn't find much, but at least Bay had warm clothing again at night, they had full tanks and some full gas cans in case they ran out again before they reached the next opportunity to get new gas. They had been able to get blankets and some sleeping bags out of a couple of houses they had raided, as well as some canned food. It wasn't much, but it was enough to keep them going for the time being.

They spent another night by the side of the road, but this time Bay made Daryl take a break and sleep. She wasn't able to sleep anyway. As luck would have it, having icy cold feet for over 24 hours had gotten her a bladder infection. Her bladder was cramping, she felt like she had to pee nonstop and when she did, she had tears in her eyes because it hurt and stung and burned. The worst thing was that she had to drink and pee a lot in order to help flush out the infection faster, since they still had no meds. She wanted to kill Daryl every single time he made her take a sip of water, but of course she knew that he was helping her, so she just suffered silently.

"Can she die from this?" Daryl had asked Hershel earlier while Bay had gone to relieve herself.

The old man had taken a deep breath, which Daryl hadn't liked at all. "Usually it is not a big deal. We gotta keep her warm and keep her drinking as much as possible. Wouldn't hurt if we'd find her cranberries or cranberry juice. It should be fine within a couple of days..."

"But?"

"But sometimes these things can spread to the kidneys if left untreated. It can end up in a kidney infection, which is more serious... I don't think it's gonna happen, but if she starts vomiting and developing a fever, we might have ourselves a problem." Hershel had told the archer, who'd started nibbling on his lower lip with a vengeance while taking in the news.

"We gotta find somewhere to hole up." Daryl had muttered, but as much as he kept wracking his brain, there was no real solution at the moment. They could just make their way from town to town until they would find a relatively safe shelter, and that's exactly what they did day in and day out.

* * *

Days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months. The only good thing about it was, that winter turned into spring and they no longer had to worry about freezing to death. That was pretty much the only good thing, though. They weren't able to catch a break. If they found shelter, it was often just for a couple of hours or overnight, or a day or two tops, before the threat of the walkers closed in again. Finding something to eat seemed to get rarer and rarer, and they were all starving. If it wouldn't have been for Daryl catching all kinds of animals, they would have been seriously screwed by now. Everybody was getting thinner and thinner, while their hair grew and grew. Dale and Hershel both looked a bit like Einstein with a full beard now. Carl, who had managed to heal up pretty good and without infection, sometimes referred to Hershel as Santa Clause. Unfortunately their own personal Santa Clause didn't have a full bag full of presents or food.

Carl was adjusting to having only one hand. It was still rough on him, he was still angry a lot and the relationship with his parents was strained at best (just like the relationship between Rick and Lori), but he was resilient and didn't give up. He kept practicing and worked on improving his aim and motor skills with his left arm. He was managing it quite well so far.

Lori was about 4 or 5 months pregnant by now. That's what they were estimating. By spending every day on the run, it had become very hard to keep track of time. She kept to herself most of the time. She barely ever talked anymore, and when she did, it was to Carol and Sophia and Carl, whenever he would let her. Nobody knew what had happened between her and Rick, but they had drifted apart and barely even looked at each other anymore.

Rick was driven. The only thing on his mind was to find shelter. Permanent shelter. A safe place for Lori to have the baby. Something where they would be able to stay for the rest of their lives without having to watch their backs all the time. He wasn't giving up hope, even though they kept literally driving in circles. They had to change direction constantly, because they kept getting cut off by herds, which seemed to be growing larger and larger with every day. Sometimes he thought that they were the only living people left in all of Georgia.

Bay missed Daryl terribly. You would think that they would have nothing but time to spend together, but that was not the case. There was no time to talk while they were driving with her on the back of his bike. When they made camp, Daryl was so concerned with keeping her and the rest of the group safe, that he stayed up and kept watch most of the time. Him and Rick were probably getting the least amount of sleep and food out of all of them. However, it seemed like the thinner he got, the more pronounced his muscles got. Bay sometimes caught herself staring at him, downright salivating. She yearned to be with him, but Daryl wasn't going for it. He didn't want to get caught with his pants down. He wanted to be alert at all times. Also there was no privacy and they didn't have any condoms, so all Bay was able to do was to content herself with looking, a couple of kisses and some light, casual touching. It wasn't easy and she realized that she was getting more jealous of Maggie and Glenn with every passing day. Those two often threw caution to the wind and sneaked off for some alone time and came back all relaxed and all smiles, while Bay could only swallow down her frustrations and put a fake smile on her face. She was disgruntled and in a constant bad mood. She was just so done with the whole situation, much like everybody else, and Daryl being more distant again, only added to that.

Today they had something to talk about though. They were getting close to Dalton. Their hometown. However, before they were able to reach the city limits, they stopped their little caravan in order to discuss the game plan.

"Look familiar?" Daryl couldn't help a small smile when he asked before they joined the others at the Hyundai.

"It does. This is where we did shooting practice." Bay was hit with a pang of melancholy when she looked over to the woodsy area which was also home to the meadow where they had shared their very first kiss. "Can't believe we're here. So close to home and yet we're homeless." She sighed. They were close to both of her former homes. The one in Dalton and the one near Calhoun, where Hershel's farm had been. They truly had been running in circles for these past couple of months.

"What's the plan? Pick through Dalton?" Glenn asked when they were all gathered around the hood of the Hyundai.

"Yeah. We haven't been through this town yet." Rick said. "We gather all the supplies we can, look for a place to hole up for a night or two, then we should head east. Ellijay, Jasper and back to Calhoun."

"We've been through all those already, Rick." Dale told the former sheriff.

"I know. But what can we do? We have nowhere else to go. if we double back to Calhoun now, we get cut off by the herd that's coming this way. We got a head start, but we can't stay in one place too long. Not like this." Rick sighed.

"Alright." Hershel agreed and rolled up the map.

"Daryl, Bay. You two know this town, right?" Rick looked at the two of them.

"Yeah. Why?" Bay asked.

"Make a list of places you know of, which might still have some supplies. The rest of you, fill up on water in the meantime." Rick told them.

"While they do that, let's go hunt. Got nothin' but a damn owl." Daryl told Rick, while he pulled back the string on his crossbow, getting it ready for action.

"15 minutes everyone." Rick said before he took off with Daryl into the woods. Bay went to the back of the car and looked for a pen and the notebook so they could write down some things to check out while they were in town.

* * *

Daryl was able to quickly bag two squirrels. He tied them to the string that was slung over his shoulder, while they walked along some old and abandoned train tracks. He trusted Rick to keep an eye out, while he was busy with his squirrels, so he didn't immediately notice when Rick stopped walking.

Daryl stopped when he realized that Rick was no longer next to him. He turned back towards their leader who was staring straight ahead, and looked at what Rick was looking. "Ah,... right. Merle's old home away from home." the hunter snorted when his eyes fell on the old Correctional Facility. "Damn shame..." he muttered when he realized that the fences and gates and sturdy walls would be perfect to live in. It would be as safe as it got these days, but it was crawling with walkers. "Come on." he told Rick, but the man wouldn't budge. In fact, Rick had a little smile on his face for the first time in months. Daryl looked back and forth between Rick and the prison a couple of times. "Nah... ain't no way. That's hundreds of walkers... Come on. Are you serious?"

"Dead serious." Rick nodded and the little smile turned into a full-fledged one.

Daryl looked doubtful for a moment, but he also felt relief. If they would be able to at least clear the field inside the fence, they would have a safe space for a bit. They would be able to pop off some walkers through the fence, contain the crowd a little and maybe slowly work their way inside. He could be looking at their new home right now. It made a tiny smile appear on his own face.

"Alright. Let's do this." he said and walked past Rick, back towards the road. No sense in wasting time. They had to get to work before they lost any more daylight.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Yep, totally a filler chapter. And yep, we're going straight to the prison. Bear with me while I try to get back into this.**

**Thank you to everyone who is still attached to this story and is sticking with me through all my ups and downs and freak outs, lol. **

**There will soon be more Bay/Daryl one-on-one time again:)**


	37. Chapter 38

Chapter 37

"Who'll run for the gate?" Rick asked after they had made their way through the first fence.

"I'll do it. I'm the fastest." Glenn volunteered, much to Maggie's dismay.

"Are you crazy? That's a damn suicide run."

"She's right. I can't ask you to do that." Rick agreed with Maggie. "Daryl, Bay, Hershel and Dale, you are our best shots, so Daryl, take Bay and go back to the first tower, take them out from there and cover me. Hershel and Dale, you go up this tower and do the same. The rest of you, spread out along the fence, make some noise, put them down through the fence." Rick instructed before sighing deeply. "I'll run for the gate." he said, not sounding overly excited about it.

They all grabbed their weapons and assumed their positions. Daryl smiled at Bay while he got his crossbow ready to fire up on the watchtower. "Who knew that me teaching ya how to aim and shoot would pay off one day, huh?"

"Yeah." she replied curtly without even sparing a glance at him, making Daryl frown. He hated when she was in a bad mood and lately she'd been in a bad mood pretty much constantly. It made him want to spank the sass out of her. However, he wasn't able to focus on that right now. They had a job to do.

"Alright, there he goes." Daryl muttered when Lori slid the gate open and Rick took off running. They focused and started shooting the walkers that were closing in on Rick, careful not to shoot their fellow group member. Bay kept thinking that those silencers sure have come in handy a lot by now. They've had so many run-ins with walkers, it wasn't even funny, but they had all survived. All of them had had to get their fighting and shooting skills up. Even Beth, Carol and Sophia were managing the walkers pretty well by now. Sophia and Carl, especially, were really good at shooting and had sometimes been their lifesavers from afar.

"He's in." Bay said more to herself when she witnessed Rick entering the third watchtower.

Daryl nodded and switched over to using a rifle, because he was out of bolts, before he cupped his hand to the side of his mouth and yelled out to everybody else. "Light it up!"

Together they took out the rest of the walkers. It had been child's play, almost. Bay took it as a sign of how well the group was working together by now. They had overcome petty personal differences and were a real team, having each others backs and making sure that no one got left behind. It had most certainly paid off, in the past and especially today. They had been able to do what had looked to be damn near impossible from the outside. Even Daryl was astonished by how well it had worked. They had really managed to take the field before the sun even started setting. He was pretty damn elated by it. Before they walked down the stairs of the watch tower, he grabbed Bay by the back of her neck and pulled her in for a quick, hard kiss. "Great shootin', baby girl."

"Thanks." She couldn't help but smile in that moment. They had successfully taken the first step to securing their new and more permanent shelter. Everybody was smiling, and Daryl was even happily squeezing Lori's shoulder when he walked past her. Bay grinned, which turned into a full laugh, when she saw Daryl do a victorious fist-pump in the air. It reminded her of the younger and more carefree Daryl had used to be. Her hope was, that maybe now things would slowly return to normal, and that they would get to relax a little for once.

* * *

Unfortunately for Bay, her hopes got smashed pretty quickly. As soon as they had started building a fire, Daryl had walked over to that old bus that laid on its side by the gate, and had started keeping watch. Sure, she easily could have joined him, but whenever he kept watch, he wasn't much for talking or paying attention to her, and Bay didn't feel like sitting there, practically by herself, even with her partner by her side. So she took a seat by the fire in between Carl and Sophia, and nibbled on a bit of squirrel meat all the while shooting dark glances towards Daryl.

"You should bring him something." Carol held out a bowl with meat towards Bay, but the younger woman shook her head.

"If he's hungry he can come here and eat, like everybody else." Bay told her.

Carol watched Bay eat for a moment. She kind of understood where Bay was coming from, but she thought the pretty brunette was overreacting. Daryl was just trying to keep them all safe. Carol got up from the ground, took the bowl and walked over to Daryl, bringing him the food herself.

Daryl slung the crossbow around his shoulders when he saw her approach, then he reached for her hand and helped her up on the bus. "Thanks. Didn't have ta bring me nothin'." he said, even though he immediately stuffed his mouth with a couple of strips of meat.

"If I don't bring you anything you won't eat at all. You need to keep your strength up just like the rest of us." Carol said, wincing a little when she rotated her right shoulder a little.

"What's wrong?" Daryl asked when he noticed her discomfort.

"I think I pulled something when I stabbed a walker through the fence earlier."

"Come here." Daryl sucked his fingers clean and put the bowl down before motioning for her to come closer. He put his hands on her shoulder and gently massaged the aching area, making Carol briefly close her eyes.

"Oh you have got to be freaking kidding me!" Bay exclaimed when she witnessed the scene that was unfolding about a 100 feet away from them. The jealous streak, that always popped up when another woman even looked at Daryl for a second too long, was rearing its ugly head.

"What?" Sophia looked at Bay with wide eyes.

"Oh... ummm... you're right again. You win. Your turn." Bay said quickly. They were playing a game of 'I spy with my little eye' and Bay let Sophia win the whole time, because she wasn't able to focus on anything but Daryl.

The others saw what was happening as well. The men didn't think much of it and kind of shrugged it off, but the women looked at each other with their eyebrows raised.

"Maybe you should take him some water." Maggie suggested.

"Pfff... right..." Bay muttered darkly and took a last glance over to the bus, just in time to see Daryl stop his massage.

Daryl's intentions had been pure, but when he remembered that the others were able to see them and that his actions could be misinterpreted, he took his hands off of Carol's shoulders. He still remembered vividly how Bay had beat up Cassie, because she had been jealous, and he did not want Carol to suffer from Bay's wrath. Bay had always been stronger than she looked, and he was sure Carol would end up with broken bones. "We should get back." he told Carol, while he took a step back.

"It's pretty romantic." Carol smirked, making Daryl freeze and look at her warily. "I can go back and send Bay over. Some couple time might do you some good." Daryl started breathing again. For a second he had thought she might be coming on to him. That most certainly wouldn't have gone over well with his girlfriend. She might have actually resorted to murder this time.

He took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes in question. "Why? She say somethin'?"

"She doesn't have to, does she?" Carol smiled sympathetically. "She misses you. And it doesn't look like she's doing very well with it." Daryl started chewing on his lip and averted his gaze, thinking about Carol's words. "It's dark. The fire's almost like candle light... You two could screw around a bit."

Daryl's head whipped up at that and he scoffed with a shake of his head. "Let's get back." he said again and made to climb down off of the bus. "I'll go down first."

"I'm sure Bay will appreciate that very much." Carol snickered, making the hunter halt in his tracks once more.

"Stop."

They climbed down, but before they walked back Daryl hesitated and cleared his throat. Carol turned around and watched him hem and haw for a moment, then she smiled. "I'll send her over." she told him and earned herself a grateful nod from Daryl.

Carol walked back to the group and smiled at Bay. "Daryl's asking for you."

Usually Bay would have liked to play hard to get, but right now, she couldn't wait to get out of there. "Thank God. Just in time." she got up quickly, making Hershel, Maggie and Beth laugh.

"What's that about?" Carol asked slightly amused while Bay was already on her way.

"Daddy asked me to sing. And Bay can't stand my voice." Beth explained with a laugh. "She likes deeper voices. Mine gives her a headache."

"Awww, that's kinda mean." Carol said, but Beth waved her off.

"She never told me when I was a little kid. She bravely suffered through all the songs I sang for years, before she spilled the beans about a year ago. No hard feelings." Beth smiled before she sang for her father.

Bay crossed her arms and walked around the bus. "What's up?" she asked casually and remained standing a bit away from him.

"Don't be that way." Daryl told her. "I ain't goin' for the bitch stuff. Ya know that."

"Sorry." Bay shrugged and looked at the ground where she was kicking at the dirt with the toe of her boot.

Daryl reached out and gripped her upper arm, pulling her closer. He grabbed her chin in his other hand and tilted her head up, kissing her surprisingly gentle. "Miss you." he rasped ever so quietly against her lips.

"You have a funny way of showing it."

"Bay..." he said warningly. "Was just keepin' ya safe, sweetheart. If those two idiots wanna risk their lives for a quick fuck, then that's their choice. Already lost ya once. I know what it's like, and so do you. You really mad at me for that?"

"No." Bay knew that he was right. She took a deep breath and when she exhaled, she tried to let go of the major part of her frustration and disappointment. She hated being this bitchy. She tried to catch herself and change her way of thinking every time, but sometimes she was unable to. Unfortunately she wasn't perfect. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to take it out on you. The past couple of months were so hard. We were together, but then again, we weren't. I missed you, even though you were right next to me at all times. It sucked."

"I know. Was the same for me, ya know? You don't see me throwin' a fit, do ya?"

"It never looked like you were suffering all that much."

"Just 'cause I don't show it, don't mean I wasn't sufferin' from that. Missed ya, too, baby girl." he kissed her again, a long, deep kiss that filled her body with warmth and finally made her uncross her arms in order to sneak her hands underneath his poncho, to rub across his back. "Would have loved to take ya further into the woods... put my fingers up inside of ya... make ya cum hard... Just wasn't the time. Had to be careful." Daryl slid the hand from her chin back into her hair and pulled roughly, making her breath hitch in her chest in excitement. They stared into each others eyes for a moment before Daryl slanted his mouth over hers and pushed his tongue inside, massaging hers passionately. Bay whimpered and sagged against him. She had never done hard drugs, but she imagined that the euphoria and that rush she felt at getting a real taste of him again after so long, had to be similar to what drug addicts experienced when they got a fix of their favorite drug. She groaned into his mouth when she felt a sharp slap against her left butt cheek. "Been wanting to do that for weeks." Daryl breathed against her lips. "Spank that damn foul mood right outta you. You been such a bad girl, Bay." he had to force himself to keep from grinning when he felt her shudder. He knew exactly how to push the right buttons. She had always turned into a highly aroused mess when he'd told her that she'd been a bad girl. He figured that it was that good, little Catholic inside of her, that had the fantasy of getting punished for her sins. She had told him something along those lines years ago, without going into too much detail.

He made her moan by giving her another light slap before he rubbed his hand over her butt and squeezed possessively. He felt her fingers dig into his back in response, and felt her kisses get more feverish. He backed her up against the underside of the bus, cradling the back of her head in his hand in order to protect her from banging it up against the dirty and rusty parts, while his other hand pushed underneath her black sweater. Daryl groaned quietly when he cupped her bra-covered breast in his hand and flicked her nipple with his thumb, making her whimper again. "Missed these... " he growled and massaged the soft globes for a moment, before he detected movement out of the corner of his eye. Rick was closing in on them while he checked the fences for any breeches. "Soon." Daryl promised while he nuzzled her nose while he slowly withdrew his hands from her body.

Bay inhaled deeply and rubbed her face, then she straightened her clothing, even though Daryl hadn't really messed anything up. Rick's eyes held a knowing look when he looked back and forth between the two while he approached, but he wasn't smirking as he had used to back on the farm. "We should all turn in. We have a big day tomorrow."

"How do you mean?" Bay asked.

"I think this place fell pretty early, which means their supplies might still be intact... Infirmary, commissary... armory... This place could be a goldmine." Rick explained what he had been thinking about in the past couple of hours.

"We're damn low on ammo, Rick. Ain't never gonna be able to put them all down like we did the ones out here in the field." Daryl remarked.

"I know. That's why we gotta go in. Hand-to-hand combat."

Bay's eyes widened. "Are you serious? That's a lot of risk to take."

"We can handle it. After everything we've been through these past four months, I know we can. We know how to handle those fuckers. I'll talk to the others in a minute, but thing is... we need all hands on deck. I need to know that you're in. Both of you."

"Nah." Daryl shook his head. "I'm in. But Bay ain't. It's too fucking risky, like she said."

"I need her, Daryl. All hands on deck. Otherwise it would be just you, Glenn and me. Maggie and Bay are the strongest women, physically." Rick said and addressed Bay directly. "You two know how to handle the walkers. So do the others, but like I said, you two are the strongest. I need you two women in on this. The five of us going in hand-to-hand will be our best chance to make this place ours."

"I'll go." Bay agreed to Rick's plan. She felt Daryl getting anxious next to her, and saw him pressing his lips together in a hard line, but he didn't say anything. However that didn't mean that he was okay with her decision.

"Thank you." Rick nodded gratefully. "You two turn in. I'll talk to the others and then I'll take watch over here." he said before he walked off towards the fire.

Bay watched him leave, lost in thought, so she was startled when she was, once again, yanked against Daryl's solid form. "Stupid, crazy girl. Ya wear your leather jacket, ya hear? I don't care how fucking sweaty you get, I don't wanna hear any excuses. If you gotta go do this, then you wear that damn jacket and cover your body the best you can. Got it?"

"I promise." Bay said with all the sincerity she was able to muster. "Come on. Let's sleep."

* * *

"Incoming!" Bay yelled when two walkers in riot gear came walking out of a gate and spotted them. "Daryl, let go of me!" she angrily ripped her wrist out of his grasp. She knew he was acting on instinct, but having him grab her wrist to pull her back into formation after every walker kill, was not really helping anything. He tried shooting a bolt through the helmet of one of them, but it bounced right off of the visor.

"Fuck!" he cursed, while Rick pushed and kicked at the walkers, getting them to back off and buy the group some time. The other walkers in the yard started to notice them, so Rick quickly ran towards the gate and shut it, before more were able to pour out into the yard they were in the process of ridding of the undead. Suddenly two more riot gear walkers came out of the door right next to them, which they had already checked and deemed clear, and headed straight for Maggie.

"Hey! Hey! Over here!" Bay immediately yelled and tried to get the walkers away from Maggie while she recovered from the mild shock of being startled. Glenn and Daryl were trying to handle the other two, but they weren't really making progress with them. Only one of them reacted to Bay and advanced on her, while the other was close to Maggie. Doing some quick thinking, Maggie jammed her knife up through the walker's jaw, finally resolving the helmet issue.

"Did you see that?" she looked at Bay with wide eyes.

"Yep." Bay, who was still backing up, nodded and copied Maggie's neat little trick, driving the blade of her knife into the spot between chin and Adam's apple, until the walker crumpled lifelessly to the ground. Her knife got stuck a little, so she stepped on the helmet with one foot and gave a quick yank. Her knife slid free with a disgusting squelching sound and some dark walker blood flying around. At the beginning she had used to shudder and make a face at all the mess, but by now it was just an everyday occurrence she didn't even bat an eye at anymore.

Daryl and Glenn used Maggie's move as well, only that Daryl pushed the walker's head forward and drove the knife into the back of the neck and up into the brain, but it was still effective. When their walkers dropped to the ground and Rick rejoined them, they finally caught their breath and looked around.

Glenn spoke up first. "Looks secure."

"No." Rick immediately shook his head.

"He's right." Daryl agreed with Rick. "See that over there? That's a civilian. Means that the inside could be overrun with walkers from the outside the prison."

"What are we gonna do? If there's walls down... we can't rebuilt them." Glenn's hope deflated noticeably.

"We gotta make sure. We can't risk any blind spots. We have to go inside." Rick said and led the way towards the entrance to Cell block C, while the rest of the group waited outside the fence, wondering what was going on.

* * *

Daryl and Rick only had to kill two walkers in the cells of the cell block. The rest had already been taken care of, presumably by the guards when shit had hit the fan.

Glenn ran back outside and got the others and help carry their stuff in, while Rick, Daryl, Maggie and Bay got the bodies out of the cells and piled them up in a corner, so they could drag them outside and burn them later.

Lori, Carol, Beth and the others still looked a little sceptically at their new surroundings, but Hershel and Dale had smiles on their faces.

"It's secure?" Dale asked Rick who was just coming down the stairs, while Bay and Daryl were watching from upstairs with their forearms resting on the banister.

"This cellblock is." Rick told them.

Hershel nodded. "Good. What about the rest of the prison?"

"We'll work on that. Tomorrow we'll go look for the infirmary and cafeteria." the group leader said. "Daryl and I each have a set of keys. Found them one some guards... Everybody pick a cell." he said, ignoring Lori who was reaching out to him with a smile to say thank you. It was painfully awkward, but everybody acted like they hadn't seen it so Lori wouldn't be too embarrassed.

"How about this one?" Bay asked Daryl and pointed at the last cell. "Most private. Nobody will have to pass that on their way down or to their cells."

"Ain't sleepin' in no cage. I'll take the perch." Daryl's statement made Bay's eyebrows shoot up.

"Oh, so you never want to have sex again, then?" She asked him, her voice lowered so the others wouldn't hear.

That gave Daryl pause. He pursed his lips while he thought about it. "Ain't sleepin' in no cage, Bay. We can use this cell for our things and for bein' alone, but I ain't sleepin' in it. I can put a mattress or two out here, right in front of the cell, but I ain't goin' to sleep in there."

"Fine. Let's get to it. I just wanna lay down. Even those crappy, thin mattresses look like heaven right now."

"I'll say." Daryl chuckled. They took the two mattresses out of the adjacent cell next to theirs and put them on the ground right in front of their cell. It would be their "public" bed. Inside their cell they put the two mattresses from those beds on the ground and used the beds as shelves for their things. This would be their "sexy time" bed/walk-in closet.

Before Daryl was able to walk out of the cell to lay down outside, Bay grabbed his hand and stopped him. "Let's clean ourselves up a little. You're such a mess." She said with a tired smile.

Daryl knew that cleanliness had always been important to Bay, and that she was having a hard time with their general state of being filthy these days, so he didn't argue. "Yeah. You look disgusting yourself." he told her with a smirk, successfully making her laugh and swat at his chest.

"Sit down." she told him and took off the leather jacket he had made her wear. Then she freed her hair from the tight bun he had also ordered her to wear, so no walker would be able to grab her by her long hair. Usually he let her do her own thing, but in this place, they knew it was overflowing with walkers, and if she had to be a part of the "suicide squad" then he wanted to know that she was as safe as she could be. Bay breathed a sigh of relief when her hair tumbled over her shoulders and down her back, and the tight feeling on her scalp disappeared. While Daryl sat down on the lower bunk, Bay dug through her backpack and retrieved the pack of wet wipes, so they could get rid of at least some of the gunk they had gotten on them earlier. They were wet wipes meant for cleaning computer and tv screens, but in these times, they had to take what they could get.

Bay sat next to Daryl and gently took hold of his wrist to pull his arm closer to her. Tenderly she wiped his arm down, removing the biggest blood stains from his skin. Daryl bit his lip and watched her. It didn't show, but he enjoyed her being sweet and caring with him a lot. Always had. It made him feel cherished and important. They haven't had a moment like this since the farm. It felt like it had been another eternity, so both of them quietly soaked up the atmosphere of the moment. When Daryl's left arm was as clean as it would get, Bay lifted it up and ran her fingers along his skin, inspecting every inch.

"What are you doing?" Daryl asked.

"I just want to make extra sure..." her voice was soft and breaking, making Daryl's eyes snap to hers. Bay had tears in her eyes, and Daryl slowly pulled his arm out of her grasp.

"Bay..." he murmured her name softly, making her look at him. "I'm fine. **We**'re fine. We did it."

"We're not done. Not by a long shot." Hot tears spilled out of her eyes without her being able to control it. They were all exhausted. Emotionally and physically, and this was the first time they were safe to take the time and let it all out. The doors were locked. Nothing was coming in without Daryl or Rick unlocking them. While the gates of the building were closed, Bays emotional gates burst wide open forcefully.

"We're gonna be alright. We can handle some tough shit." Daryl said while he grasped the back of her neck and pulled her in for a kiss. When their lips touched, Bay felt everything bubbling up to the surface. She pulled her lips from his and climbed on his lap, locking her ankles behind his butt and her arms behind his neck, clinging to him like a little spider monkey clings to a tree, holding on for dear life. She hid her face in his neck and let her emotions overwhelm her. Daryl held her tight, rubbing his hand over her back in slow, soothing circles while she sobbed quietly. He kissed the side of her head, before he buried is face in her hair and just held her silently, letting the feeling of finally holding her close again, without having to watch out for any danger, fill him with warmth and affection.

"I'm sorry." Bay sobbed. "It's juts all the tension from the past months-" she tried to explain, but Daryl cut her off.

"Shhh... I know... " He held her for a long while, and only spoke up minutes after she had stopped crying. "Let's lay down and sleep. Fucking earned it."

"Yeah." Bay nodded, and for once she could care less about cleaning them up some more first. She climbed off his lap and guided him outside to their bed. Daryl laid down on his back, one arm up with the back of his hand resting on his forehead, the other arm cradling Bay to his side. Even though it was still morning, they were dead to the world within seconds.

* * *

"I love you." Daryl smiled when he woke up to those words coming from Bay's lips in a whisper.

With his eyes still closed he turned his head toward her and felt her lips press against his a second later. "Mmmm..." he quietly moaned his approval in the back of his throat. She put her hand to his cheek, rubbing her thumb along his scruff while she deepened the kiss. Both their lips parted and Daryl swept his tongue through her mouth, before he pulled back again. "Love ya, too." he murmured and pressed his lips back to hers for another kiss. "Feel better?"

"Mhm." Bay nodded, already nibbling on his lips again. They languidly made out for a little bit, before Daryl finally fully opened his eyes and took a look around. It was noticeably darker in the prison, and a glance at the sky through the windows that were up high in the wall told him, that dusk was falling.

"Better get some light goin' in here." he told Bay, and stretched out his tired and sore limbs.

"And some dinner." Bay added and followed suit when he got up.

The group only stayed up to have some dinner, then they went back to their cells to rest some more. Their bodies needed it, especially since they would have another big day tomorrow.

* * *

"Good thinking with the spray can, Glenn." Bay praised the young Asian man when he sprayed another arrow on the wall, so they wouldn't get lost on their way back. "This thing is a maze." It was true. Even Daryl, who had a superb sense of direction, wouldn't know which way to run if push came to shove. It was just corridor after corridor with the same gray walls.

Maggie, Bay, Rick, Glenn and Daryl were on their mission to find the warden's office or the cafeteria or the infirmary or the armory. Something useful that would indicate how much supplies and weapons were left inside the prison or at a location nearby, as Rick assumed. So far things had gone well, maybe a bit too well for their liking. They simply weren't used to things being easy anymore, and every time something went off without a hitch, it left them with a feeling of dread. Anxiety was thick in the air. On top of it being a maze, it was also very dark down there. All they had was flashlights. Bay had always found that unnerving. Whenever she turned on a light, she preferred to be able to see everything in front of her. This little spot of light drove her insane, because with it came the fear of suddenly shining it right into the face of a walker she hadn't seen previously. However, just like everyone else, she shut up and swallowed everything down, and kept pushing forward with the group.

They turned right into a new corridors full of cells. The smell of death got stronger, which wasn't surprising with rotting and half-eaten corpses on the ground in front of the open cells. They carefully checked out the cells one by one, checking for walkers. Bay almost dropped her flashlight when Maggie suddenly yelped loudly. Everybody turned towards her, weapons raised, but quickly relaxed again, when they realized that she had just bumped into Glenn. They all took a second to breathe, then they kept going deeper into that dark, eerie maze. They took another right, and another, and another, with nothing but gnawed on corpses greeting them... until they took their next right, and they were greeted by a big group of walkers.

"Back! Back!" Rick and Daryl were shouting simultaneously. They turned around and ran back into the direction they came from, but suddenly, there was another group of walkers, that hadn't been there before.

"That's why I hate flashlights." Bay yelled while they ran into yet another direction, trying to get to safety. "Can't see shit."

There were walkers everywhere. They didn't have time to see where they were going, they just kept running and running, evading the undead as best as they could, until they came up to two big swinging doors. Rick pushed against them, but they didn't open all the way, but enough for him to see, that they were secured from the inside by a pair of handcuffs. Usually that would have given him pause, but in that moment he only wanted to get inside and get away from the walkers, because they were advancing quickly.

"Bolt cutters! Glenn!"

Glenn quickly handed them over, and Rick cut through the chain between the cuffs. The doors opened and they filed inside, before slamming the doors shut and having Daryl secure them with new chain.

"Holy shit! Where did they all come from? We checked those corridors." Maggie was panting, but before anyone was able to answer, they all heard the click of a gun being cocked a couple of feet away. They froze and Rick immediately remembered about the door having been secured from the inside.

"Easy!" they heard a male voice behind them and footsteps coming closer.

"We don't mean no harm!" Rick raised his hands in the air and slowly turned around to face the person, or maybe even several persons, who was having a gun trained on them. "We jus-" he didn't get any further than that.

"Ooohoohooooo... If it isn't Officer Friendly. Out of all the prisons in the country, you and your rag tag band of losers come walking into mine. Well ain't that somethin'?"

Daryl still had his back turned on the whole thing, but he shuddered nonetheless, because he would recognize that voice anywhere. With his eyes wide, he turned around and stepped around from behind Glenn and Maggie. "Merle..."

"Good to see you made it, baby brother." Merle looked at Daryl with a smile. He truly was happy that his little brother was still alive, but his happiness didn't last long, because Daryl was still running with Rick instead of having shot the asshole in the face to avenge his older brother.

Bay was frozen in her spot, more so since she had heard Daryl utter Merle's name, and she noticed the recognition pass over Daryl's features. And then even more, when she finally recognized the voice herself. It was Merle Dixon. In the flesh. _This is not happening. No. Not Merle. Please God... You can't possibly be __**that **__cruel. I'll lose him again._

"Merle..." Daryl was still stunned. "How'd y-"

"Daryl?" Another incredulous voice entered the mix, and Daryl and the others finally realized, that Merle wasn't alone.

Daryl looked over Merle's shoulder, seeing another man, with a lean built and messy blond hair. He seemed familiar, but Daryl wasn't able to tell why. Not at first, but the penny soon dropped, and it almost sent Daryl staggering. "Pat?!"

A huge smile broke out on the other man's face and he lowered his gun and quickly walked over to Daryl, embracing the shell-shocked hunter in a big bear hug. "Holy crap, man! You got old, you little fucker!" Pat laughed and hugged Daryl tightly.

Daryl's mind was blown. He didn't really return the hug and he didn't say anything, because his mind was racing with a million questions while he stared at Merle, who had a smug smirk on his face.

"Alright love birds, as touching as this little reunion is, reign it in. There's some business to be done here." Merle said as his eyes swept over the other group members. He noticed that China Man had made it as well, and it looked like he'd gotten himself a pretty girlfriend in the past months. He glared daggers at Rick, before his gaze settled on the fifth member of Rick's group. The only one who still had her back turned. He assumed it was a woman due to her height and delicate built. He watched her with a frown, while Patrick released Daryl and told him that it was good to see him. "What's with her?" Merle waved his gun in her direction. "She pissin' herself or what?"

Daryl turned to look at what was going on, and suddenly he realized, that both, Merle and Pat, might be in for a huge shock.

With her back still turned, Bay reached up and pulled the elastic out of her hair, letting it tumble down once again, before she slowly turned around. "No, Merle. I am not pissing myself. You've never scared me before and you sure as hell don't scare me now." she said calmly, but with an unpleasant edge to it, while her expression was icy cold.

Pat and Merle looked at the woman with a frown, but then their eyes widened almost simultaneously.

Merle actually swallowed hard and slightly shook his head. "The hell...? You're dead."

"Yeah. You wish." Bay spat.

"Bayanne?" Pat's voice clearly expressed his shock. "You're... No... That can't be. How...?"

"Didn't jump off a bridge, that's how." Bay told him. She was still glaring at Merle, but when she took her eyes off of him and looked at Pat who was slowly coming closer, she couldn't help but smile. "Had an accident, lost my bag, was in a coma... long story. Wow, look at you. You look so good." she grinned a little, making Pat laugh.

He took her face in his hands and blinked away tears while he smiled at her. "Are you kidding? Look at you, girl. More beautiful than ever. Shit... how did you two...?" he waved around between Daryl, who was enjoying the show with a little smile on his face, and Bay. "Did you know she wasn't dead?" he turned confused eyes on Merle. "But if he knew, why didn't you know? Thought you and Daryl were together?"

"I didn't know." Daryl spoke up. "After Merle disappeared, we were driftin' around for a while. Got stuck on a highway. Lost a little girl. While we were out searching, Rick's son got shot. That's how we got to the farm, where Bay'd been livin' for the past 11 years. Thought I was going fuckin' insane when I saw it was really her. She was real close all that time. Outside Calhoun."

"Calhoun?" Pat's eyes snapped back to Bay's. "That close. Why the fuck didn't you call. We thought you were dead!"

"I didn't know that! I just wanted to stay away from Dalton because everything reminded me of Daryl." Bay defended herself.

"Look. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Merle is right." Rick cut them all off. "We have some other things to discuss right now."

"I'll say." Merle sneered. "For example we have to discuss how you ain't welcome in **my **prison." The sneer turned into a smug grin when he noticed Rick's lips pressing into a thin line. This was the moment Merle had been waiting for, for a long time.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Dixon brothers reunited and it feels so... good? Probably not.**

**Thank you to everyone for having had so much patience. Glad to have you all still on board the "Baryl" ship.**

**Special thanks to the awesome and lovely reviewers:**

**DarylDixon'sLover**

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	38. Chapter 39

**AN: I just wanna mention real quick, that I am aware that the geography is off and that the prison on the show was not in or near Dalton. This is the part where artistic liberties come in;-) Now enjoy.**

* * *

Chapter 38

"Pffff..." Pat scoffed amused and turned to face Merle again, casually keeping one arm around Bay's shoulders. "What's this? Another one of your little attempts at a power grab? Calm your testicles, Merle. This ain't **your **prison. We've been here weeks before we found your sorry, near death ass and dragged you back here. So you just stand back and **I**'ll talk to... what you call him? Officer Friendly?"

"Name's Rick Grimes." Rick said and offered his hand for the other man to shake. Hope flared back up inside of him. If Merle was not in charge, then tings were definitely looking up. No matter what though, he would not give up this prison. They needed this. Lori and their unborn child needed this. This place was big enough for all of them to co-exist peacefully.

"Patrick Stanton." Pat shook Rick's hand. "Guess it's obvious that I know these two idiots and this pretty lady right here."

"You're from Dalton?" Rick deduced.

"Yeah. Daryl and I were best friends for most of our lives. Until he ran off with that sorry fool over there. Left this one to pick up the pieces by herself." he shook Bay gently. "Until she vanished in an apparent suicide. Fuck man... Can't believe you're standin' here right now." Pat grinned at her. "You back with the idiot?"

"You know I am..." Bay laughed at the comment and Daryl's subsequent scowl.

"Well, then I'm sorry, D... but I'mma have to hug the fuck outta your girl right now."

Before Daryl was able to reply, Bay spoke up. "Oh don't worry Pat, if he can give sensual backrubs to women who are not his girlfriend, then it is perfectly fine for you to hug me." she said with a sarcastically sweet smile and a look that told Daryl clearly that she hadn't forgotten about that little scene two nights ago.

"Wasn't like that." Daryl grumbled with annoyance, while he watched Pat embrace Bay in a tight hug.

Merle scoffed at his little brother. "You turn into some kind of casanova now? Might have taught ya right after all."

"Oh shut up." Daryl told him as his eyes took in the weird metal contraption that was replacing the hand he'd sawed off himself. "I'm glad you're alive, but I'm fed up with all your bullshit."

"Grown some balls, too, I see." Merle huffed.

"Can we get back to the issue at hand?" Rick was getting impatient, while Glenn and Maggie just watched with confused looks on their faces. "You said 'we'? There's more of you?"

"Yeah. There's five of us altogether. Used to be more, but... you know how it is these days." Pat sighed after releasing Bay.

"We know." Rick nodded. "We lost people, too."

Pat nodded and looked at the other two people he didn't know. "What's your names?"

"I'm Glenn and this is Maggie." Glenn replied and they both came over to shake Pat's hands.

"How many of you are there?" Pat asked Rick.

"We're a group of twelve."

"Twelve?! Wow."

"Yeah. It's the five of us plus two, let's call them elderly, gentlemen, three more women, two kids aged 10 and 11."

Pat nodded while he let the info sink in. "You got supplies?"

"Fresh out." Rick admitted.

"That's why you came here. Thought nobody would have raided this place, huh?"

"We came for permanent shelter first,... but yes. The longer I thought about it, the clearer it got that the supplies are probably still intact."

"How'd you get in here anyway?" Pat asked him slightly confused.

"Cut a hole through the fence. Couple of us went up on the towers, took out the walkers while I ran up and shut the main gate. We slept out in the field the first night. Second day, the five of us went in hand to hand, cleared out the yard and secured Cellblock C."

Both Merle and Pat were nearly gaping at them. Pat let out an incredulous laugh. "Holy shit. The five of you? And today? You going to secure the whole thing?"

"That's the plan." Rick confirmed. "Were looking for the infirmary and the cafeteria... armory. Check the supplies. How'd you get in? How long have you been here?"

"Guess it's been about 9 or 10 months. Me and my group were running from them biters one day. Chased us through the woods. That's when we came up on the back of this thing. A wall was down and it wasn't too many biters, so we went in and secured a little space. Bit by bit we pushed in further, just like you, trying to find food. We cleared a path from our space to the door in the back over there." he pointed behind him to where the prison's food supplies were stored. "That's about as far as we got. We wanted to get into the infirmary and the armory, too, but we were lacking the manpower. Just too many biters and too little of us."

"We could help you with that..." Rick offered.

"For a price of course." Pat's cheeky grin was still the exact same as 11 years ago, and Bay found herself laughing quietly at that familiar expression.

Rick nodded and looked over at Daryl. "You know him well?"

"Like he said. Been best friends forever. Trust him with my life." Daryl said.

"You haven't seen him in 11 years." Rick reminded him. "People change. Loyalties change. Still trust him with your life?"

"I do." Daryl nodded. "He's one of the good ones."

Pat and Daryl exchanged a nod, before Pat motioned over to Rick. "How about him, Daryl? How well you know these people?"

"Enough to trust them and know they have me and Bay's back. They're good people, too." Daryl told Pat what he wanted to know.

"Are you fucking kiddin' me? That's the asshole who cost me ma hand. Ah I see, Sheriff Rick was first in line to make you his bitch, huh? You like this now, yeah?" He crossed his fingers at Daryl. "That how you treat your family, son?"

"Shut up, Merle!" Daryl spat.

"Yeah, Merle. Shut up. This isn't about you." Pat agreed with Daryl, then he looked back at Rick and seemed to think about the whole situation.

"Who else does your group consist of?" Rick asked him.

"It's me, my girlfriend, her six-year old kid, plus a guy from Dalton we all know, and Merle."

Daryl narrowed his eyes and looked at Pat curiously. "Who's the guy?"

"Nick Mayer." Pat said, making Daryl groan quietly.

"For the love of Christ, man." Daryl knew Nick Mayer, and he knew that Bay knew Nick Mayer. Back when they had first been together, he had asked Bay about who she'd had a crush on during school. Nick Mayer had been one of her big crushes in high school. Of course it had to be him, of all people, in this prison.

Bay smirked, but she refrained from saying something. Instead she asked Patrick about his girlfriend.

"Ummm... she'll be extremely shocked and happy to see you, Bay." Patrick hemmed and hawed a little. "It's Erin."

"Whaaat?" Bay was gaping at him. "You and Erin?"

Pat grew slightly uncomfortable and scratched the back of his neck. He knew that their story didn't sound very good to other people. "Yeah. We all stayed in Dalton and we kept hanging out together all these years... Sam became a firefighter not long after you two disappeared." Pat took a deep breath and steadied his voice. "He died a hero about five years ago."

Bay gasped quietly and got tears in her eyes, and Daryl swallowed hard, while Patrick kept talking. "They had a kid. Erin and Sam, I mean. Cute little boy... had just celebrated his first birthday. After that, I helped her out a lot. Caused me to actually get my shit together, to be able to do so. We got closer and yeah... the rest is history. I know it sounds shitty... but... not like it matters anymore, right?"

"You're a good man, Pat." Bay gently squeezed his arm. "I'm sure Sam would be okay with it."

Rick rubbed his hand over his tired face. They were getting off topic again and it was starting to piss him off. However, the whole thing had an upside. He was getting the feeling that those other people who had been here first could be trusted. Except for Merle, of course. "Listen. Maybe we can merge groups. We've done it before. We can live together, keep each other safe, work together on securing this prison and clearing the ways to the infirmary and armory. We have a farmer. He says that the soil is good enough to plant some things. We could build something here... If you prefer to keep to yourselves, we can still help you clear the whole thing, but we split the supplies we find per capita. It's only fair that we'd get more, because we are twelve people, whereas you are just five."

"Sounds fair. That means we get to keep all the food, since we are the ones who found it, right?" Pat smirked. He wasn't that big of an asshole and would let other people starve, but he couldn't keep himself from bringing up the snag in Rick's plan to his attention. "Relax I'm just jerkin' your chain."

Merle thought he had heard enough and he was not about to give up even an ounce of food for Sheriff Rick fucking Grimes. Instinctively he backed up into the storage room. "We can't give 'em anything. There's only a little left."

Daryl watched him with narrowed eyes, then he followed him into the room. He turned on his flashlight and shone it along the shelves before pinning Merle down with an icy stare. "That's what ya call a lil' bit of food?"

"Goes fast." Merle said, but it was obviously a blatant lie. The shelves were still full to the brink with all kinds of canned goods, flour, dried corn, and so on, and so on. Rick, who had followed Daryl, was looking around in awe. He had been right. This place was a goldmine, and if the cafeteria was still stocked like this, then chances were extremely high that the infirmary and armory would be as well.

"Idiot." Pat muttered under his breath before he addressed Rick again. "Don't go **that **fast, but with twelve more people it sure will go faster."

"We can help out with that." Bay told her old friend. "Hershel, the farmer, he is good at what he does and when he says we can plant things like soybeans and tomatoes, then that will certainly work. All we need is to find some seeds, I reckon, see what else we can plant. Daryl still hunts, so we can supplement the canned food with fresh meat every now and then. The field is big enough, maybe we can find some live animals, like some chicken or something like that, get us fresh eggs..."

"Sounds good." Pat nodded. "We're gonna go back to our people now. I'll talk to them, see what they wanna do, although I'm sure I already know the answer." Pat grinned. "Not gonna tell Erin about you, Bay. Wanna see her face when she sees ya."

"Poor girl is gonna have a heart attack." Bay laughed.

"Alright, how are we gonna do this?" Rick cut them off. "Meet back here same time tomorrow?"

"Yeah. You gonna be alright getting back to your cellblock?"

"We can handle it." Rick told him.

"Before you go, take some food. Feed your kids." Pat said, earning a grateful nod from the other leader.

Bay stepped up to Merle, who wouldn't budge. It was a weird sensation for Merle to have her stand in front of him again. Actually, deep down he was impressed that she hadn't given up after all. That she was still standing and still fighting. He'd always kind of liked her and respected her. Taking Daryl and her money away from her had never been anything personal, but if he had to choose between himself and someone else, Merle had always chosen himself. Now, Merle didn't believe in much of anything, but that his baby brother had found the love of his life again after she had been believed to be dead for over a decade, that must have been more than just coincidence. Now that they had found each other, maybe he and Bayanne could let bygones be bygones, but judging from the cold stare she was receiving from her, her attitude seemed to be different on that whole matter.

"Move." Bay demanded icily.

"Now, now... what's the magic word, Miss Bayanne?" Merle asked, breaking out into his trademark grin.

Bay narrowed her eyes at him for a couple of seconds, just before she put the sweetest smile on her face. "Oh, I'm sorry... where are my manners?"

Merle fully expected her to say "please", which is why the searing pain between his legs caught him by utter surprise and he wasn't able to keep himself from groaning out in pain, after she had delivered a hard kick to his balls. "You fucking bitch!" Merle struck out of reflex, only to get pinned to the shelf behind him by Daryl, who had anticipated Merle's retaliation.

"Touch her and I'mma take your other hand." he growled. "You've done enough. You deserve much worse than what ya got just now."

"I see she's already got ya wrapped 'round her pretty lil' finger again, huh?"

"Shut up, Merle. We're gon' have ourselves a nice chat, just you and me. But not now." Daryl told him before he released his older brother from his grip.

"Let's get moving." Rick pushed past them, while Glenn grabbed one of the big metal tables on wheels and started putting the food on it, which Rick and Maggie were handing him. Pat helped them until the table was fully loaded.

"Good. That should last y'all at least until tomorrow. In case we decide to come over and join you, we'll need 3 cells... As well as some space for all the supplies. You got that much space left?" Pat asked Rick.

"And then some. Got the whole Cell block C cleared out. Like I said, step by step we're going to secure more space. Just needed to find supplies first."

"Alright. See y'all tomorrow then." Pat said, before he hugged a still slightly reluctant Daryl again. "So fucking good to see you, man. Though ya aged fucking badly." he snickered, making the tiniest of smiles appear on Daryl's face.

"Asshole."

"Be safe." He kissed Bay's cheek, then he followed the group to the door. "Sounds like their gone, but be careful anyway."

He opened the door and Daryl quickly whacked a single walker that was still wandering around outside the door. Pat closed it behind them and chained it shut, before he and Merle got some food for their small group and they went on their way back to them.

"Hm... looks like Daryl ain't so happy to see ya..." He couldn't help but taunt Merle a little. "Maybe he finally came to his senses and realized that following you around like a puppy dog will never get him anywhere."

"Shut up, you fucking fag. What's with all the hugging shit? And I'm tellin' ya right now that I ain't gon' live happily ever after right next to Rick fucking Grimes."

"Then you can stay here by yourself. You always forget that we don't owe you anything. You on the other hand, wouldn't be alive right now if we wouldn't have brought you back here when we found you half dead, crying and begging the good Lord to save you. You got your wish, now be happy with what you got."

"Pfff..." Merle scoffed, but much to his dismay, he knew that Pat was right. If it hadn't been for Daryl's friends, he wouldn't be alive and wouldn't be reunited with his brother.

* * *

"That took long!" Dale stated the obvious. "Are you alright?"

"We are. Had a close call, but we found the cafeteria." Glenn explained.

"Oh look at all that. You were right!" Carol and the rest of the ladies had a huge smile on their faces, when they saw what the group had brought back.

"There's more where this came from." Rick smiled a little. "But there's something we need to talk about."

Hershel looked at Rick questioningly, just like everyone else. Unconsciously, they were all bracing for bad news. "What is it?"

"There are other survivors here." Rick explained.

A collective round of gasps and "what?" was being heard, and Rick quickly held up his hands to quiet them down. "It's gonna be okay. They mean no harm. Actually, Daryl and Bay know them."

"You know them? How?" Lori frowned, not immediately making the connection, that this was Bay's and Daryl's hometown.

"Patrick was, or is, Daryl's best friend since childhood. He's with a woman, who used to be my best friend. Her name is Erin. They have her son with him, and another man I went to school with. They have a fifth group member... who you know as well." Bay explained.

"**We **know as well?" Lori's frown deepened. "Who?"

"Merle." Daryl replied for Bay.

"Merle, as in your brother Merle?" Lori's eyes widened. "Then I'm pretty sure that he does mean harm."

"Got nothin' to worry about." Daryl told her. "I'm gonna keep an eye on him."

Bay scoffed quietly. "Yeah, that'll help for sure."

"Bay..." Daryl shouldn't have been surprised by her statement, but he was, as well as mildly hurt.

"Forget it." She said and walked up the stairs to go to their cell.

"I'll talk to her." Maggie mumbled and followed Bay, while Hershel gently put his hand on Daryl's arm and pulled him back when he wanted to go after her as well.

"Leave her be for a moment. She's lashing out because she's scared. You can't be surprised that your brother being here brings up some issues for her."

Daryl chewed on his lip and nodded slightly. He got it, but that didn't mean he liked it. He thought she trusted him again by now, but it looked like she wasn't quite there yet after all.

Rick told the others that he had offered Pat to come stay with them, and that together they would work on making this whole thing safe and a home to live in. Nobody really minded, they all knew by now that there was safety in numbers, and if Daryl and Bay said those were good people, then they trusted their judgment. Nobody was too happy about Merle being a part of it, though. But however unpleasant of a human being Merle might be, he'd never done anything to intentionally harm anyone back at the quarry, so there were no real objections to him being around.

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Lori asked in a whisper after she had pulled Rick aside for a moment.

"It might be tough at first, but it might not be the worst. I think it might not be the worst for Carl to have around."

"For Carl?"

"Think about it. Merle lost his hand, Carl lost half his arm on the same side. They can both blame me for it." Rick admitted bitterly. "I know Merle Dixon is not a shrink, but he might be able to help Carl deal with this."

Lori sighed deeply and rubbed the small baby belly that had started forming by now. "Okay. If you think it's best... then yeah... okay."

Rick looked at his wife for a moment, trying to see if she was being genuine, then he walked off without another word.

* * *

"Hey Karate Kid." Maggie smiled slightly as she took a seat next to Bay on the mattresses inside the cell. "I always knew you could hold your own, but that was some kick. You've been holding out on me. Where in the world did you learn that?"

"When you grow up in the meth capital of the whole country, and have to walk home alone in the dark, you pick up a thing or two."

"Do you feel better now, knowing that he might be walking funny for the next day or two?"

"I don't. I wish I would be able to hurt him just as much as he hurt me. As he hurt Daryl. But even if I had the chance, I never would and right now that kind of pisses me off."

"Even if that's the case, you can take comfort in the fact that that makes you a much better person than he ever will be."

"Not much of a comfort." Bay said. "Because in the end he still wins. Merle Dixon always wins."

"And that's what you're scared of, right? That somehow he'll take Daryl away again?"

"More like that Daryl will let himself be taken away again."

"He didn't look very thrilled to see his brother." Maggie smiled encouragingly. "He defended you right away, too."

"Yeah..." Bay muttered quietly.

"Time is short, Bay. Don't punish Daryl for something he hasn't even done yet. Don't punish him for something he might never actually do, just because you are afraid that history will repeat itself. The only thing it does is, that it will push him closer to his brother." Maggie gently admonished Bay for her behavior.

"I know. God, I don't know why I'm such a bitch lately. I'm pissing myself off." the older women lamented.

"You need to get laid good and hard by your man."

"Can't. Don't have protection."

"Well, we have some condoms. But they're regular sized ones." Maggie smirked when she noticed Bay perk up noticeably.

"Really? Gimme!" Bay said, making Maggie laugh.

"You sure?"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take." Bay's mood quickly took a turn for the better.

"Come on, then. Let's go down to my cell and I'll give you some." Maggie said while she got up, then she helped Bay up and took her down to the cell she shared with Glenn.

* * *

Right after her short visit to Maggie's cell, Bay had wanted to talk to Daryl and apologize, but they got sidetracked by another mission. One, she was very grateful for: schlepping in buckets of water from the river outside the prison, so that everyone would be able to wash up properly. Something they haven't done in way too long. In Bay's eyes, the timing could not have been better, because no matter how much she wanted Daryl, she would not have gone anywhere near his junk, and she neither would have let him near her lady junk, without them washing up first.

Daryl had never cared much about this stuff since the world turned to shit, but he had to admit, washing himself with the warmed up water and a soapy washcloth, and finally getting all the gunk out of his hair felt damn good and refreshing. It wasn't too bad that the women had insisted on having things like towels, washcloths, and hygiene products around, no matter how much space it might have taken up. They sure came in handy today.

When he was done, he toweled himself off and dressed in cleaner clothes, before he made his way upstairs to their cell. His poncho hung in front of the door, covering as much as possible, and he carefully pushed it aside and stepped inside. He stopped short just when the poncho fell back in place, his breath hitching in his throat, when he saw Bay in just a pair of simple black panties and a top, bend over, with her ass in the air while she rubbed some kind of lotion into the skin of her legs. He hadn't realized how much he had missed these little intimate moments with her, as well as seeing her like this. He never forgot how beautiful she was, but sometimes it hit him harder than at other times. Today was one of the times it hit him harder. The way she looked, completely clean for the first time in weeks, with her hair still slightly damp and wildly spilling over her back and shoulders, that top with no bra and just her panties... For a short moment it was like they were back in a happier place. Back in their apartment on a regular night after work. For a moment, everything else was forgotten and he just stood there and drank her in.

"Hey. Do you have a moment?" She smiled carefully at him after she had straightened.

"Yeah." Daryl was pulled out of his spell, and nodded. And just like that, everything that had happened earlier came back to him, and it made him watch her with an unreadable expression, a little warily maybe, when she stepped into his personal space. Gently, she put her hands on his cheeks and looked deeply into his beautiful baby blue eyes. "I know it's pretty much all you've been hearing from me these past couple of weeks, but I'm really, really sorry for being a bitch. I'm frustrated, scared and tired, and I'm taking it out on you, even though you do nothing but care for me and keep me safe. I'm being a horrible person and I apologize and I promise I'll work my hardest at being a good girlfriend to you again." She tried to stay strong, but her eyes still filled with tears. She felt like shit, just like she should. She had done wrong by him a lot and she was very sorry. "All these little remarks... I never wanted to be that person. I still don't want to be and I'm horrified that I am turning into that kind of person. So, I truly promise you, I'll get better. I love you so much and I understand if you need some time or something, but I just want you to know that I'm so sorry."

"Okay." Daryl simply said, before he kissed her long and deep.

"Forgive me?"

"Mhm." He grunted with a nod. "We've all been through a lot... but we gotta keep sticking together. Ain't gonna work any other way."

"I know. I'm sorry I snapped."

"Stop saying you're sorry. I get it." he said with the hint of a smirk before he lowered his head and kissed her again. Their tongues touched briefly, before Bay pulled away, making a little sound in the back of her throat.

"Mouthwash?" she grinned quietly.

"I still know what my girl likes." Daryl smirked.

"You do. I think I might remember a thing or two you like."

"Really? Wanna show me?"

"Very much so. Why don't you take some of this stuff off first?" She smiled and tugged at his clothes.

"Not now. After dinner, when everyone starts turnin' in. Don't want your Pop to hear ya, do ya? I sure as hell don't want him hearing what I'm gon' do to you."

"Tease." she laughed and kissed him lovingly, before she turned serious again. "Hey... tell me something."

"What?"

"How are you feeling? With Merle being here... and Pat... freaking Pat. And Erin... I never ever would have thought we'd see them again."

The seemingly deepest sigh ever was his immediate answer. "Dunno." Daryl shrugged and sat down on the lower bed. "Kinda happy to see Pat. Good to know that Erin made it... Good to see Merle alive, but... guess that's about it. Didn't think too much about it, but fact is, he left me alone back at that camp. He didn't come back. He went to fucking Dalton instead, for God knows what reason. I went back to get him, but he just left me there. Again... and then **I**'m the one who treats family badly?"

"You can't listen to him. You really shouldn't. We all told you that over and over again. I know it's a very bitter pill to swallow, but he only cared when it was convenient. He loves you, I know he does, but he only really cares about himself. He makes sure that he comes out on top, no matter who he's got to use or stab in the back to get there. He left you without family in this mess of a new world, and now he's pissed that you are still with Rick? Rick might not be blood, but he treats you like Merle should treat you. With respect. He cares what you think. He knows your value and he knows that you are one smart cookie. That's why he's looking to you for opinions. He trusts your judgment. He doesn't judge you. He gives you your space to be who you are. To get back to who you truly are. Merle has never been able to do that, because you having your own opinions was inconvenient to him. You having your own life and friends was inconvenient to him. That's why he did what he did to remove you from Dalton and the other people in your life once and for all. And for what? Because you started to truly settle down with a girl and a job. He was scared of losing you, so he took you away. And again, for what? So you'd be able to clean up his messes. So you'd be there to provide him with everything he needs once he got out of jail. Getting locked up in the first place... he left you to fend for yourself again. He loves you, but he loves himself more." Bay hadn't meant to give a speech. She had wanted to let Daryl talk, but everything just rushed out of her before she was able to stop it. Maybe she was desperately trying to get Daryl to see the truth, so history wouldn't repeat itself.

"I get it." Daryl nodded dejectedly. "Wish I could hate the guy."

"But you can't and that's good." Bay reassured him. "You shouldn't hate him, he's your brother. But you have to break that spell that he has on you. I know it's hard, but you have to or it will destroy you one day."

"Do you hate him?" Daryl looked at her curiously.

"Oh geez... I don't know. I'm most certainly not his biggest fan, but I don't know if I hate him. I might not ever forgive him for what he took from us. But then again, he didn't know I was pregnant. Maybe if he had known... I don't know. I really can't say."

"He liked ya. He did... Maybe if he would have known he would have changed his mind." Daryl said quietly.

"Doesn't really matter anymore, does it?"

Daryl just shrugged in reply. In a way it did matter. He would tell Merle about Bay losing their baby, and maybe his reaction to it would help Daryl decide on how to feel about his brother. "What about Nick Mayer?"

"What about him?"

"You still into him?"

"Daryl, it was a high school crush. Just a crush, 15 years ago. You I love, honey. With all I have and with everything I am."

"Good answer." Daryl deadpanned, but he still didn't like having another guy around, that Bay kind of found attractive. The whole bond between her and Rick was hard to take already. Adding another guy to the mix would suck.

* * *

"Right here?" Bay's calm and quiet voice floated in his ear.

"Yeah..." Daryl replied in a drawn-out groan as Bay's fingers dug into the strained muscles between his spine and shoulder blade on the right side of his back. He was starting to feel that he was getting older and that he was no longer in his 20s. His body was not really getting used to handling the crossbow nonstop and the muscles in his back, especially on the right side, were always sore and achy. He scrunched up his nose when the smell of the oil hit him again. "Ya really gotta use that? I ain't no damn baby. Don't need to smell like one neither."

"You sure are acting like a baby about it." She giggled and kissed the back of his neck.

Daryl's eyes popped open wide when he felt her naked breasts pushed up against his back. _When the fuck did she take off her shirt?_

"How about you turn around on your back now?" she murmured right into his ear before she let her teeth scrape over the lobe.

"Damn, sweetheart." he groaned when he settled on his back and saw her kneeling there in nothing but her panties and the cross necklace, which **he **had given her. It made his dick grow rapidly inside his boxer briefs. His hands went to her hips, and he helped her straddle him. Bay's oiled up hands sensually and slowly slid up his belly and rubbed over his strong, hard chest. She smirked when she let her thumbs flick his nipples, making him hiss and buck up his hips against her. Bay held in a moan when he bumped his hardening cock against her center. It felt so damn good, she thought about just ripping down their underwear and riding him until the cows came home. But she didn't. She wanted to enjoy this for a little while. It had been too long of a wait to have this end within five minutes. She lowered herself, pressing their bare chests together while she kissed him hotly. She moaned into his mouth when Daryl stroked his strong, warm hands up her naked back. Feeling him like that made goosebumps erupt on her skin, and her nipples harden against his chest. She started moving her hips a little, all the while moving her mouth from his lips down to his neck. Daryl turned his head to the side, giving her more access. He breathed deeply and groaned quietly, his blunt nails raked down the soft skin of her back, leaving thick, red welts, when she found his sweet spot and proceeded to lavish it with little licks, bites and sucks.

"I love you, baby." she whispered against his skin, which he acknowledged with a little grunt. Then she let her lips travel lower, and her hips started moving in a slow and steady rhythm. Daryl shuddered when she settled into the perfect movement, giving him some great friction on the sensitive ridge of the head of his erect, but still underwear-clad, dick. "Just like the good old times, huh?" Bay breathed with a little grin, referring to all the dry-humping they had done back when they had first started out with getting intimate.

"Never gets old." Daryl pressed out, while his hands caressed her soft skin everywhere he was able to reach. He had to bite his tongue to keep from groaning any louder when her teasing tongue found his small, stiff nipples. She circled them languidly, increasing blood flow to that area and making him a bit more sensitive, before she caught one of the tiny nubs between her teeth. His breath hitched when she bit down gently, only to be released in a deep groan, when she tugged at it. His cock jumped excitedly, making her release his nipple with a small giggle.

Daryl grinned and caught her face in his hands, making her look up at him. "Tease." he grumbled affectionately.

"Look who's talking." She shot back, before they shared an intimate smile.

"Missed this." Daryl admitted quietly in a rare show of openness.

"Me, too." She smiled and kissed him passionately. Their tongues stroked and teased, while Daryl's hands found their way to her satiny, soft breasts. He relished in the pleasure-filled sound she made as he gently pinched the hardened peaks between thumb and forefinger, before he started rolling them between the two digits. He was slightly disappointed that she was suppressing the sounds she usually made, but he knew that it was for a very good reason. They had even less privacy around here, than they'd had back on the farm. Even being quiet like this, the others who weren't asleep yet would sure pick up on some of the sounds and know what they were doing. Still, they didn't need to hear **everything**, which was why they where being careful to be as quiet as possible. They weren't too worried about the kids hearing anything. They were asleep by now and they slept through the loudest thunderstorms.

When he had successfully made her shudder and ground herself down hard on his cock, he removed his hands from her perky mounds and slung one arm around her back, while he used the other to support himself, while he sat up with her. Once they were sitting, he grabbed her chin and broke the kiss. He tilted her head back and licked and nibbled along her neck. He sucked hard on the base of her neck, leaving a faint mark, before he moved further south. He drew her left nipple into his heavenly hot and wet mouth and started sucking gently at first, but he quickly increased the intensity.

A helpless moan escaped Bay's mouth, which caused her to quickly bite down on her bottom lip in an attempt to stifle the sounds that were sure to follow. She buried one hand in his growing hair, loving that she had more to hold on to now, than she had back on the farm.

The next stifled moan came from Daryl, who jumped a little in surprise when he suddenly felt Bay's fingers playing along his bare cock. He'd been so absorbed in playing with her tits, that he hadn't felt her pull back the waistband of his underwear, to free his turgid length. Bay made another sound in the back of her throat and ground herself down on him once more, when she felt how slippery the tip of Daryl's erection was. He must have been leaking pre-cum for a while and somehow that drove her near insane with lust. She loved that she was able to get him to that state of arousal so quickly.

She started to pump her hand up and down at a fast pace, twisting her fist over the head on each stroke. Daryl lost focus on what he was doing. His eyes rolled back into his head and he simply rested his forehead against her chest for a moment, and enjoyed having her hand on him again, while his fingers dug themselves into the soft flesh of her hips. When he tried to help along by pumping his hips up, he grew slightly frustrated, because it didn't work sitting up.

"Remember that one time, when we started bein' more careful? When I kinda... fucked into your hands?" he asked under labored breath.

"Yeah. I think so."

"I wanna do that now. 'kay?" he asked urgently.

Bay had to fight a smirk. He wanted to cum now, but he also wanted to be careful, like back then, and not do naked dry-humping and risk her getting pregnant. He still didn't know that Bay had gotten condoms from Maggie. However, this worked out just fine for Bay. If she would make him cum now, he would last longer for the actual act later. "Yeah, okay." she smiled and kissed him deeply while he maneuvered them into another position. Within seconds Bay was on her back, with Daryl on top of her, supporting himself on his forearms on both sides of her head. Bay reached between them and wrapped both hands around his warm and heavy length.

"Harder." Daryl told her to tighten her grip while he straddled her legs in order to be able to thrust better. "Yeah... like that." he groaned appreciatively when she gripped him just right. Daryl started pushing into her tight grip, his pre-cum acting as a lubricant, giving him perfect friction. He moved forcefully and fast, and Bay needed a moment to get used to it and to keep her hands steady and in place, so he would be able to feel more like he was really slamming into her. It wasn't the real deal, but it was close enough for Daryl in that moment. He'd missed his woman's touch more than she would ever know, and even though he wasn't inside of her like he wanted to be, it was still heaven to have her bring him to orgasm. He humped into her hands like a madman. When he felt his climax building in his balls and at the base of his spine, he knew it would be a hard one. He quickly buried his face in her neck, hoping it would mute at least some sounds that were sure to escape him when his orgasm would hit.

"Ooohhhh shhhhh..." he groaned into her neck, while one of his hands found her hair and gripped it tightly. The pleasure was so mind-blowing that he wasn't even able to finish moaning the word "shit". He had been right. He came hard, with gritted teeth and seeing white behind his eyelids, which where screwed shut tightly. He held his breath while he reveled in the pleasure he hadn't felt in too long. In the back of his mind he registered that he seemed to be making quite a mess. He felt little bursts of warm wetness splash against his own belly and chest, and he felt more of his essence erupt from his contracting length, presumably making a mess of Bay as well.

He was not wrong. His orgasm was just as forceful as his thrusting had been. Some of his cum had shot all the way up to her neck, making her giggle happily. "Under pressure..." Bay sang the words in the melody of the old Queen song, making Daryl's head snap up.

"Seriously?" he asked under his breath, while he blushed a little.

"Sorry." She laughed quietly and quickly kissed him. "Love you."

"Love ya."

"Feel good?"

"Best I felt in a while." Daryl murmured, his breathing still a little heavy. He kissed her lovingly and deeply, before he rolled on his back next to her. Bay grabbed the pack of wet wipes and cleaned him off of her and Daryl rubbed his hand up and down her thigh, while she did it and he came down from his high. When she put the wipes away, Daryl's hand moved up and cupped her heated sex. "Your turn, baby girl." he slightly rolled on his side and kissed her again, swirling his tongue around hers and coaxing it into his mouth, so he could suck on it. Bay moaned softly and turned on her side, when she felt him pull at her hips. "Come up here." he rasped against her cheek, where he was pressing little kisses on her warm skin.

Bay's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, which made him chuckle. She swallowed hard. "You mean..."

"Yeah. Been a while. Want you on my face. Want you to push that sweet little pussy of yours right up against my mouth." he groaned right into her ear, making pleasurable chills run up and down her spine.

"Good God..." she moaned. She loved when he talked dirty in her ear. It was doing things to her that were indescribable. All the muscles in her lower regions clenched hard and she felt her arousal increase tenfold. She knelt up and pushed her panties down her thighs, ridding herself of her last article of clothing. Daryl helped her position herself and grinned a little when he heard her embarrassed giggle and noticed her blush in the dim light of the camping lantern. No matter how often they had done this in the past, there was always a bit of positive weirdness to it when she was straddling his face like this. However, she quickly got over it as soon as his tongue touched her. "Sweet Jesus... Oh God..." she moaned, before she remembered to be quiet. It was not an easy task. Daryl's skillful tongue swirled around her entrance, lapping her up, groaning deep in his throat when her familiar tangy and salty flavor hit his taste buds. He grabbed her ass in both hands, pushing and pulling at her, to guide her movements. He laved her outer lips with long, slow strokes from bottom to the top, before he pulled each one into his mouth and gave it a good suck. He had her shivering from pleasure in no time at all. When the tip of his tongue gave short little licks to her clit, he had to keep himself from grinning smugly, when she trembled hard and he noticed her thighs quaking. He felt the little bud get engorged and stiffened underneath his skilled ministrations, and his tongue left no spot unexplored. His tongue nudged, licked, flicked and swirled until she grabbed his hair hard in her small hand, and started to grind herself harder against him. Her breathing turned more erratic by the second, and he kept her on that edge for a moment, before he pushed her over, by wrapping his lips around her and suckling on her little pearl.

"Oooh!" The loud sound escaped her, before she quickly bit down on her bottom lip while her body shook rhythmically. "Nnnngghh..." she grunted as she rode out the waves of her pleasure, before she fell forward on her hands. Daryl grinned and gave her one last lick from bottom to top and ended with a little suck, before he maneuvered her back down to his side.

"Feel good?" he mirrored her words from a couple of minutes earlier.

"Jesus Christ... So good." she panted, making him smile.

He wrapped his arms around her and held her while they basked in the afterglow of their activities. Bay was tracing invisible patterns across his chest with her fingertips for a while, before she slowly let her hand slide down over his belly. He had been hard while he had eaten her out, but now that they were just cuddling and relaxing, he had gone half-hard. Bay burrowed her fingertips in his pubic hair and ever so gently scratched the sensitive skin, making goosebumps break out on Daryl's skin from the sensation. "I have a surprise." Bay whispered smilingly.

"Yeah? What?"

"Push your hand under the mattress. To your right." she instructed him with a grin.

Daryl did as he was told. His eyebrows rose in pleasant surprise when he looked at the small foil package he was holding between two fingers. "Hell yeah. Where'd you get this?"

"Maggie. They're the regular ones, though. Wanna use it?"

"Think you already know the answer." He scoffed when his hardening dick bopped against her hand.

"Hand it over." She held her hand out, while Daryl tore open the little package and placed the condom in her hand. Bay made him groan by kissing the tip of his dick with soft lips, before she placed the condom on him. "Such a big boy..." she muttered more to herself while she rolled it down his shaft, but Daryl grinned proudly nonetheless.

He was careful when he pushed inside for the first time in months. He went slow and let her adjust, before he started building a rhythm. After their previous activities had taken the edge off of their intense need for each other, their lovemaking was unhurried and gentle. They held each other tightly, both of them were able to fully enjoy being united like this again, sharing smiles and little whisper while he pushed into her slow and steady. Daryl only picked up the speed of his strokes when he felt himself nearing completion. "Touch yourself for me, baby girl." he panted against her jaw while he moved his mouth back to her neck. Bay sneaked her hand in between them and rubbed herself with tight little circles, while the other hand slid up his back and buried itself in his hair. Her clit was still sensitive from her first orgasm, so it didn't take long at all until Daryl was able to let himself get pulled over the edge by her contracting walls. They came together, stifling their moans and harsh breathing against the others flesh, while their bodies writhed in unison.

Both of them were absolutely drained now, and Daryl had no idea how he managed to come up with the energy to pull out of her, pull off the condom and quickly check it for leaks, before he tossed it in the corner, to be taken care of in the morning. "We're good." he mumbled, and quickly got up to get dressed. "Let's go to bed."

"We are in bed."

"Ain't sleepin' in no cage, Bay." he repeated for the umpteenth time. Bay sighed deeply and quickly grabbed a shirt and some shorts and crawled the short way outside the cell to the mattress. Daryl laid on his back and pulled her against him. Once again, they were asleep within seconds, and everybody who was still awake was happy that they no longer had to try to ignore the telltale sounds coming from the cell upstairs. No matter how quiet any of the couples would be, if they had sex in the cells, it would always be heard. Just like back at the farm, the level of privacy was slim to none. But after 4 months on the road together in close quarters, keeping their modesty and privacy had become the least of their worries.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**What do you think? Will the groups merge? Will Daryl get jealous once Nick lives in the cellblock? How about Pat and Erin being a couple now? Think that'll last? How will Merle react to Bay having been pregnant? So many questions, lol.**

**Special thanks to the awesome reviewers:**

**DarylDixon'sLover**

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	39. Chapter 40

Chapter 39

Daryl didn't sleep much. The whole thing with Merle being back in his life had him more frazzled than he liked to admit. He was scared that he'd fuck up again; that he wouldn't be able to break this spell Merle seemed to have on him. He couldn't lose Bay again. This was his last chance to be with her for as long as this shitty existence would last. None of them had any idea of how long that would be. Could be over tomorrow. One of them could get bit on their way back to the cafeteria. They still had no idea where those walkers had suddenly come from. _We checked those fucking hallways. There were no walkers... until there were. Gotta go back in and track where they came from. If they pop out of nowhere again... Next time Bay could be too close... What if she don't notice in time? _

Daryl wasn't the type to toss and turn. Instead he stayed on his back and stared up into the darkness when he wasn't able to sleep. But he didn't even have to toss and turn for Bay to notice that he wasn't sleeping. She woke up with a restless and anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach. She frowned in sleepy concentration while she tried to sort out what the problem was, so she would be able to go back to sleep. When her sleepy haze dissipated a little, she noticed a couple of things at once. Daryl's body was as stiff as a board. He was a whole freaking ball of tension, and she was sure that the restlessness and anxiety she felt, was radiating off of him in waves. He also was too quiet. Usually when he slept on his back, he snored quietly. She realized that he had to be awake and was most likely brooding over something.

Bay gently rubbed her hand over his chest and tilted her head up to blindly kiss a spot on his jaw. "What's keeping you up, baby?" she whispered against his skin. "Thought I wore you out?"

"Yeah... it's just... everything. You know... Merle..." he admitted.

Bay didn't immediately know what to respond to that. Telling him that she was anxious about Merle being back would surely not help him. "I trust you. I'll always support you and have your back... the rest is up to you." she finally whispered against his jaw.

_That's what I'm afraid of, _Daryl thought with a sigh. "I don't want you to come with us later."

"Why not?"

"Don't know where the walkers came from. Too risky."

"Daryl, we never know where the walkers come from. It's always risky. Like Rick said, all hands on deck."

"There's something else."

"What?"

"When Erin sees ya... If they wanna come back here with us... Do ya think she'll be able to focus on bein' careful enough on the way back? She'll be a mess. You might be, too. Better if you two meet up here." Daryl explained the other reason why he thought she should stay behind later.

"That actually makes sense." Bay said after a short moment of silence. "We should talk to Rick about it in the morning. See what he thinks."

"He ain't the boss of you, Bay. **You **think about it, and if ya don't wanna go, then ya won't go." Daryl started to get riled up, but quickly quieted down again when Bay rubbed her thumb over the tattoo on his chest.

"Ssshhhhh... don't get upset. We'll work something out." she pressed another kiss against his jaw. "You should try to sleep."

"Can't... too wound up." he muttered, right before an idea struck him. "Got another one of 'em rubbers?"

"I do, but we're not gonna use it now. We gotta keep it for a better occasion. We don't know when we'll get our hands on new ones."

"Don't matter. Knowing Merle he'll move in right in that cell over there. Next to us. Ain't gon' get it up with him around all the time." he whispered sullenly.

"Once we secured more of this place, we're gonna find ourselves a place to be alone. Don't worry." she told him quietly, while her hand slid down his chest. "Forget about Merle for now... " she grinned at his sharp intake of breath when he felt her slip her hand inside his worn jeans, and wrap her hand around his cock. It was pitch black inside the prison, neither of them was worried about someone seeing what they were doing. Bay stroked him to hardness. The darkness made her other senses sharper, and the feeling of him getting hard in her hand was even better than before. The tiny noises he was making only heightened the sensation for her.

"What are you doing? Were you goin'?" Daryl whispered urgently when he suddenly felt Bay pull away.

"Relax..." he was able to hear the grin in her voice. "Don't wanna make a mess..." she murmured right before he felt her hot mouth envelop him.

"Oh fuck..." Daryl's breath escaped him in a rush and he put his fist against his mouth to try to stifle his noises while she sucked him off. It didn't take too long until her mission was accomplished and the tension vanished form Daryl's body and he was relaxed and limp as a cooked noodle. He started to doze off when she was back in her spot by his side. He quickly turned his head and kissed her forehead. "Thanks." he whispered against it, making her giggle quietly.

"You're very welcome."

* * *

Daryl didn't show it, but he was very happy that Rick agreed with him and didn't start arguing about how much he needed Bay on the team. If the first trip to the cafeteria had shown them anything, it was that they all had to be on top of their game. He didn't want to take any chances with the post-reunion, emotional women. Hershel then volunteered to take Bay's place this time and Rick was okay with that. Taking care of the farm had kept the old man fit and agile, and even though he had more experience in putting down walkers from a long distance with his rifle than he had in hand-to-hand and close up encounters, Rick was sure that Hershel would be able to hold his own. Plus, he was going to put on the riot gear, which would protect him from getting gutted, at least.

The group wanted to leave the cell block for the cafeteria a bit earlier in order to check out where those walkers had come from the last time. They wanted to take some more down, and if it would be too many, they wanted to try to somehow lure them into some of the cells on the way, and contain them in there and take them out safely one by one through the bars. If the smaller group decided to join them in cell block C, then they had to make sure that the way back was as safe for Erin's 6 year old son as possible.

"Excited?" Hershel asked with a slight smile when Bay helped him strap on the gear.

"Not right now." Bay sighed. "I'm extremely nervous about letting all of you go without me."

"I know. But I also know that you're excited. You talked about Erin quite a bit when you came to live with us."

"I did. She was my best friend. I loved her a lot. Still do. I can't believe I'm going to see her soon."

"I'm looking forward to meeting her. From what you told me she seems to be a nice girl. She took care of you when you needed her. That's a good friend. We can use more people like her." Hershel smiled.

"We do. Pat is the same. He's kind of a cheeky monkey... well he was, but I got the impression that he hasn't changed much in that department... he's a jokester, but he's an amazing friend and he cares deeply. Daryl never shows it, but he loves Patrick like a brother, and Pat loves Daryl the same way. He was heartbroken, too when Daryl left. We supported each other. I was glad he forgave me for taking his best friend from him prior to that. We treated both, Erin and Pat, like crap by pulling away from them. I'm glad we get the chance to make it right now. I hope Erin can forgive me for never getting in touch with her again." Bay sighed again and fought tears. "I'm so sad for her that she lost Sam. They were such a great couple. It must have been so hard for her and the little one."

"Looks like Patrick took good care of them since then."

"Yeah. I'm sure Sam would be eternally grateful. She's in good hands." Bay quickly wiped at a tear that had escaped and took a deep breath to calm herself. "There you go, all good."

"Thank you for your help." Hershel thanked her politely. Bay turned to leave his cell, but before she was able to he quickly took hold of her hands and tugged her closer, making her face him again. "I am worried about you, Bayanne." He spoke in his calm and fatherly tone.

Bay's eyes widened in surprise. "What? Why?"

I know you are a strong woman, Bay... But I also know that there's a limit to what we are able to take. You've had a lot to take in your life already, and you dealt with it with the utmost strength, perseverance and grace. You are a fighter through and through, but you do have a breaking point. You reached that point once before when Daryl left... I am worried that Merle being here with us might bring you to that point again. It will bring up painful memories and a painful loss."

"I won't lie... it will be tough and nothing short of annoying to have him here... but I'll be fine, Hershel. I have my family here. Don't worry about me." Bay smiled reassuringly, at least she tried to, but Hershel saw right through it.

"Maggie told me what happened. That you hurt Merle. It's not like you to get violent, Bayanne. The man's presence is already changing you."

"It's not. The violence is a part of me, unfortunately." Bay admitted and laughed a little when she noticed Hershel's eyebrows shoot up. "It's not a big part of me... at least I don't think so, but I definitely have a violent streak, and trust me when I say that nobody was more surprised about that than I was myself. When Daryl and I dated the first time around, there was this girl named Cassie. At first she was nice, but I was crazy jealous... I don't even know why. At that point she hadn't even done anything, but I guess where Daryl is concerned I can get pretty irrational. When I wasn't very nice to her, she started not being very nice to me. She started getting touchy-feely with Daryl and she told me that my parents committed suicide to escape having to be around me... I snapped and I started beating on her. We fought for a bit before Daryl and Sam broke us up. I was banged up, too, but I totally beat her bleach blonde ass."

"Bayanne!"

"Sorry." Bay apologized with a sheepish expression on her face. "I wanted to hurt Carol when Daryl gave her a back rub a couple of nights ago... It's definitely in me, Hershel. It's me... not Merle. He just brings it out in me. Like Cassie... and other women getting too close to my guy."

"You have to fight that. That girl shouldn't have said that, but you can be the better person by ignoring them and kill them with kindness. There is no need to fight. Don't let anyone provoke you. You're better than that, Bayanne."

"No, Hershel. I'm really not." Bay stated and ended the conversation by kissing his cheek. "Be safe." she muttered while she walked out of his cell, leaving the old man to his worrying.

She wasn't proud of the things she felt when she felt like her relationship was threatened by something or someone. It was hard to come to terms with the fact that she wasn't as good a person as she had believed herself to be for the longest time. She had a bit of a dark side. Or a violent side, or whatever people wanted to call it. Thankfully it didn't come out to play very often. Daryl and her were more alike than people might think. Just that he was hiding his sweet side from others a lot, while she hid the dark thoughts she had behind a smile, when Carol (or Cassie back in the day) got a bit too flirty or close to her man.

She sought out Daryl next and motioned for him to come up to their cell when she spotted him. She kissed him long and hard, and wrapped herself around him like a kraken. "It's weird having you leave and me staying here." she breathed when they came up for air.

"Same for me. We're gonna be back 'fore you know it, though." his said in his rumbling voice. "Don't come after us, ya hear? No matter how long it takes."

"You just said you'd be back before I knew it."

"We will,... but... you know. Stay put, alright?"

"Alright."

"Promise."

"I promise." she met his searching gaze full on when she said it.

Daryl gave a satisfied nod, then he gave her another kiss. "We're off then."

"Be safe." she told him and reluctantly let him go. She had a bad feeling when she stood up on the landing and watched the group leave. She hated staying back and waiting, but today she would have to accept that this was how it was gonna be. At least it was only for today.

* * *

The group had been able to find one of the "breaches". A door to the outside that had been left wide open. They took care of as many walkers as possible, before closing the door and locking it with their set of keys. Eventually they would have to clear the yard which the door had led to, but they would be able to do that through the fence from the outside, as soon as they had found the armory and had stocked up on ammo.

They arrived at the cafeteria a little early. Pat and Merle weren't there yet, so Hershel took the opportunity to pull Daryl aside for a moment. He had kept shooting scrutinizing glances at Daryl and he had noticed that the man was more fidgety than usual. "You okay, son?"

"Fine. Why?" Daryl didn't know why Hershel would want to talk to him now.

"I imagine you're happy about getting your brother back, but I know that it will complicate things." Hershel said. "Back at the farm, you promised me something. You promised me that you would put Bayanne first from now on. Up until now, you kept that promise... You are doing a splendid job of caring for her and keeping her safe..."

"But?"

"I worry. About her, about the whole situation. I hope you will keep your promise, even more so with your brother back in your lives. Bay needs you, Daryl. She's changed. Sometimes I feel like I don't recognize her anymore. Losing another home, the months on the run... It did something to her. It tore her apart. Now that we'll be able to settle down more permanently, she will need your help to find her way back. She will need you to put her back together." Hershel told him imploringly.

_Put her back together? She used to put __**me **__back together. How the fuck am I supposed to do it for her? _Daryl chewed on his lip nervously, thinking about what Hershel was telling him. The farmer was right, Bay was different. Hardened, almost... for lack of a better word. A bit jaded even. He got it, because it had happened to every single one of them, but he still missed the old version which always saw the positive side of things and who always had a smile on her face, despite some shitty things they had gone through. Somewhere along the way she had lost a big portion of that smile and positivity. He wanted to help her, but he had no clue how to do it.

"I don't want to meddle, Daryl, but I guess I just want to know where you stand on all this."

Daryl opened his mouth to reply when they heard the noises of people entering the storage room of the cafeteria. "They're here." Daryl muttered, before he looked back at Hershel. "Bay comes first. Always."

"I hope you'll be able to keep that promise. I trust you with her life, Daryl." Hershel clapped his hand down on the younger man's shoulder, before they re-joined the others.

They weren't too surprised to see that the whole group had shown up. Now that the first shock had worn off, Daryl's spirits lifted when he spied Pat. It would be good to have him around again. Despite what he had told Bay back at the farm, he had spent some time thinking about him every now and then. Pat had been a big part of his life, and he'd always been there for Daryl, ever since childhood. Guilt gnawed at him when he once again remembered, how shitty he had treated Pat in the past. It all had to change this time around. Daryl was surprised, however, by how good it felt to see Erin. Just like Bay she hadn't changed too much. Her features had matured, but she was as tiny as ever and her hair was much longer. He saw her eyes glance at all the strange men, and he knew that she was looking for him. Finally her eyes settled on him. She narrowed her eyes slightly while she studied him, and Daryl couldn't help the little smile that tugged at the corner of his lips. Suddenly her face lit up and she started smiling and immediately walked over to him with open arms.

"It's really you." She grinned before her small form connected with his and she hugged him. "I can't believe it. It's so good to see you, Daryl. I thought Pat had lost his mind, but then Merle said it's true and... wow. All back together in Dalton, huh? Home sweet home, right?"

_Yep, ain't changed much. Still talks a bunch, _Daryl thought with a wry grin. "Good to see ya, too. Been a while..." he still wasn't the best at small talk. His eyes fell on the little boy, who was obviously Erin's son. Daryl swallowed hard. The boy looked exactly like Sam had when the boys had all been in elementary school together. His heart hurt when he realized that Sam would never know that. "I'm sorry about Sam."

"Thanks. That's Alex. Our son." She said with a smile while she looked back at the young boy, who waved shyly from behind Patrick.

"Hey." Daryl gave him a little smile, but his smile soon vanished, when he looked at Merle and fucking Nick Mayer. "Nick." Daryl said curtly.

"Hey, man." Nick smiled at him. He was unaware of Daryl's negative feelings towards him. Bay had never let Nick know about her crush on him, so he had no idea that Daryl wasn't his biggest fan right now.

Introductions with the others were made, before Pat addressed Rick. "Guess I won't have to tell you that we wanna merge groups. Is the way back safe enough for Alex to come?"

"Yes. We were able to locate where the walkers had come from the last time. We chained that door up good. It's safe now." Rick told him.

"Good. Then let's grab some food and get going. While Erin and Alex get settled in, I'd say we guys go make a couple of trips to get all of it back to your cell block. What do you say?"

"Sounds good." Rick agreed with the plan and they all started filling the empty packs they had brought.

* * *

Bay meanwhile stood in the doorway to Lori's cell. It had been a while since they had the chance to just sit down and have a chat, so to pass the time, Bay thought it would be nice to catch up with the others a little. "Hey."

"Hey, Bay." Lori smiled as she leaned back against the pillows made out of rolled up blankets, and rubbed the small baby bump.

"How are you feeling?" Bay asked and sat down next to Lori on her cot.

"Good. No more nausea thankfully. Just tired a lot."

"It's a good thing that you can rest whenever you feel like it now. It will do you both good, I'm sure."

"I think so." Lori nodded. "How are you doing?"

"I'm alright. Do you need anything? Some water? Want some more beans?"

"I'm good, thanks Bay. Don't pamper me too much or I'll get used to it." Lori laughed.

"You should get used to it. Might be the last time you'll ever have the luxury of getting pampered." Bay told her with a little laugh, before she turned serious again. "Rick isn't sleeping in here?"

"No." Lori shook her head. "My son and my husband both hate me."

"They don't. I don't believe that." Bay tried to reassure her, but she knew that it was probably a lesson in futility. "What happened?"

"What hasn't happened?" The pregnant woman scoffed. "Things haven't been right since he found out about the baby. The bigger I get, the more distant he gets. I think that he thinks it's Shane's."

Bay wasn't able to argue with that, because it seemed like that truly was how Rick felt. "It's gonna be okay. Once he has that little bundle in his arms, he's just gonna fall in love with it."

"I don't know. Things are very different now."

"Don't lose hope, Lori. It's the only thing that still keeps us going."

"What if that hope gets shattered in about 5 months? What if he hates the baby? What then?" Lori looked at Bay with tears in her eyes.

"Rick is a good man. He has honor. He won't hate the baby. I don't think he could even if he wanted to. Don't worry too much. Things will work out, I'm sure of it. Even if you hit another rough patch... the rest of us will still be here for you and the little one, okay?"

"Thank you." Lori tried to suppress her tears while she squeezed Bay's knee gratefully.

Bay left the cell a little while later and checked on Beth, who was in the cell she shared with Hershel and was writing in her journal. "Just like old times." Bay grinned and leaned against the wall opposite from the cot and slid down until she sat on her ass on the floor.

"It passes the time." Beth shrugged. "And having a journal around makes me feel like having an old friend around."

"I know."

"I was just writing about the others in the prison." Beth explained. "Do you think they'll come join us?"

"I think they will. Pat is smart. He probably figured out that they have better chances at survival if they become a part of a bigger group."

"Looks like they did pretty well so far. Just the five of them." Beth pointed out.

"Because just like Daryl, Pat is a survivor. It's all he knows. They were kind of made for this."

"But so were you. You were left with nothing and you survived."

"That was different. I always managed to have a roof over my head and food in the fridge, no matter how shitty the food might have been. Daryl slept in his car a lot and before he was able to make money, he went into the woods, hunting and foraging for food."

"He slept in his car?"

"Yeah."

"I can't even imagine what that's like." Beth said, before she paused and made a face. "Well, I guess I can now. But back then in the old world... why didn't he get a job, like you did?"

"Merle." Bay stated, like it would explain everything. When Beth looked at her questioningly, Bay elaborated. "Daryl kind of raised himself, but with Merle's influences whenever he decided to give a shit about his little brother. Merle put a lot of shit in Daryl's head. Made him believe that he was worthless and that nobody would ever care about him. That striving to have normal things and a normal life was something only pussies did. His friends got raised kind of the same way, so Daryl didn't really know anything else other than hang out, drink beer and do the odd job here and there. When we got together, he saw that a normal life was in the cards for him. He kind of got his first steady job and he tasted blood. He realized that with our incomes, we were able to provide for each other. He realized that his skills would be able to help not just him, but me, too. He would hunt and he would built things for our apartment. I think it built up his confidence. He would provide food and I would make him good meals in exchange for it. We had a really good thing going, and when his boss had to let him go, because they had finished the project, he immediately pounded the pavement and looked for something else. Because of Merle, he had always thought that he would die of boredom with a steady routine, but then he found out that he actually loved it. He loved having a real home and everything that came with it. Well, to make a long story short, he got a job eventually. But before we met, he didn't, because Merle had always told him that nobody would even give him the time of day."

Beth smirked a little when Bay had just rambled about the past, and the older woman actually blushed a little in embarrassment. "You like talking about the past." Beth stated with a little smirk.

"Yeah, I guess I kind of do." Bay shrugged. "The time I had with him back then was wonderful. A lot of great memories."

The two fell silent for a bit and Beth studied Bay closely. Then she got up and dug through her backpack. "Here." Beth handed Bay a spare notebook and a pen.

"Um... thanks?" Bay was confused. "I'm not really into the whole 'Dear Diary'-thing, Beth."

"Try it. You have some time today. Writing can be pretty good for you. Even if you just write down your happy memories with Daryl... Someday it will be nice to open that book and read through it. Might put a smile on your face when you need it." Beth told her with a gentle smile on her face.

Bay narrowed her eyes and cocked her head. "You have the same expression on your face like your father had earlier. Are you worried about me, too?"

"I'm not worried..." Beth shrugged in her youthful, nonchalant way. "I just feel like something is weighing you down. I don't know if you even know or if you just don't want to talk about it, but you just don't seem... "

"I just don't seem what?"

"Happy."

"I am happy. I have Daryl and my family." Bay protested.

"Okay." Beth shrugged again. "Just give it a try. Open it up, get that pen ready and see what happens."

"Fine." Bay sighed and heaved herself up from the ground. She leaned over the cot and kissed Beth's cheek. "I love you."

"Love you, too, Bay." she smiled and watched the woman, she considered her oldest sister, leave her cell.

* * *

"Okay, book is opened, pen is ready... now what?" Bay said quietly to herself while she stared at the blank page and tapped the pen against it repeatedly. She didn't know what to write and also, she felt a bit silly about trying this. After a couple of minutes she sighed deeply and just started doodling in the corner of the blank page. Random patterns and symbols soon littered the top of the page. She didn't even realize what she was drawing, because she was starting to lose herself in her thoughts. Suddenly words started to pop into her mind, out of nowhere, and she started writing them down. The thoughts started to burst out of her and onto the paper as she kept writing them down. She didn't know how long it was, but judging by the fact that she had only written two pages, it probably was only a couple of minutes, when she heard Carl yelling.

"They're back!"

Bay got up hastily, leaving the notebook and the pen laying on the mattress inside their cell, while she peeked out the door. She exhaled in relief when she saw Maggie, Hershel, Glenn, Rick and Daryl returning in one piece. Her blood pressure immediately rose back up though, when she spotted Merle sauntering into the cell block like he owned the place. She was going through a variety of emotions very quickly, because the next second she got teary-eyed and emotional when she saw Erin and a young boy, who looked a lot like Sam, clutching her hand tightly. The sandy-haired child looked around with wide, shy eyes, while Patrick gave him reassurance and support by resting his hand on the boy's shoulder, squeezing gently here and there. Just in these couple of seconds it was obvious to Bay, that Pat loved the boy a lot. Most likely he loved him like the boy was his own by now. Like Hershel loved her. People had called them white trash, but the truth was, that Pat and Daryl and a lot of the other guys were the sweetest, most selfless and most loving people in the world. They had tons of love to give, and when they loved you, you knew that it was real and genuine.

"Everybody..." Rick called out and everybody started to gather. Bay hid behind Dale, so she wouldn't be seen right away. "As you can see Patrick and his group decided to join us. This is him, his girlfriend Erin and her boy Alex. This is Nick and most of you already know Merle."

The newcomers all nodded or waved quickly, still a bit reserved despite the warm welcoming smiles they were receiving.

"That's Hershel's other daughter, Beth..." Rick went on and proceeded to introduce his group to the others. "My wife Lori and my son Carl. Carol and her daughter Sophia. The gentleman over there is Dale..." Rick paused and couldn't help but smirk a little, just like Pat and Daryl, while all their gazes turned to Erin. "And I believe you already know Bay..."

Erin looked at Rick with a frown on her face, because the guy wasn't making sense. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed that the older gentleman named Dale was stepping aside, revealing another figure behind him. Erin looked over there and focused on the person that stepped into view. She didn't understand what she was seeing at first, but realization hit her, as soon as she heard the familiar voice.

"Hey Erin." That kind of scratchy and hoarse voice, which had always been pretty unique to her. It was deeper now, but those trademarks were still there and Erin's memory connected the dots quickly.

"Bay?" Her eyes widened when she took in the other woman. She had changed, but not enough to be unrecognizable. This was Bayanne Moore, her best friend from school. Her best friend which had been dead for 11 years.

"Holy shit!" Erin heard Nick mutter through her confused haze.

"You see her, too... Right?" A shell-shocked Erin looked back and forth between Pat, Nick and Merle. "Are we dead?" she muttered, making a teary-eyed Bay laugh.

"No, we are all very much alive." Bay told her and slowly came closer. "You're not seeing things."

"She's real, babe." Pat said and squeezed Erin's shoulder now. "She ain't dead."

"Never was." Bay smiled through the tears that kept rolling down her cheeks. she took another step closer and carefully put her hands on Erin's arms. "See? Very real."

"But the cops... they said you jumped!"

"I didn't. Never intended to neither. I just needed to get out of Dalton. I got hit by a car though. I lost my bag during that accident and I guess with everything that had happened to me and my parents, they assumed I jumped." Bay explained while she tried not to start full-on bawling.

"All these years... you were alive?" Erin was still looking at her in shock.

"Yes. I was in the hospital for a while, but yeah... I was alive."

Something in Erin's expression changed, but Bay didn't notice it right away. "Did you have memory loss?"

"No. I was a bit shaky, head-wise, after the coma, but no memory loss."

Erin nodded with a sarcastic laugh. Bay was startled when the other woman roughly shook her hands off of her. "So you knew full well that you had friends who were worried about you, right? I grieved over your 'death' for months, Bay! And you can't be bothered to pick up the phone and at least tell us that you were alright?! Or at least let us know that you needed to get out of town?! We took care of you when you broke down after Daryl left, remember that? We were fucking scared to death that you wouldn't survive Daryl leaving with the way you were, and you know it! You couldn't have left us a fucking letter or something? Explaining what you were about to do? You let us believe you had died for 11 fucking years?!"

"I-I... I didn't know that you thought I was dead."

"That doesn't even matter. No, you know what? Actually, that's even worse, Bay!" Erin shouted at her. "You cursed Daryl for the way he left town and then you went ahead and did it the exact same way? We had to go through that shit twice! Losing our best friends like that... I am so angry at you I can't even see straight." Erin was flushed from anger and turned towards Rick. "I'm sorry. Can you please show us to the cells we can use? I'd like to get settled in."

"Sure." Rick nodded.

Lori held her hand out and motioned for them to follow her. "Come with me." she said with a smile and led Erin and Alex to the cells at the end of the block. Nick started to trot behind them.

"Still good to see ya, Bay." he told her in passing, to which Bay just nodded curtly.

Pat scratched his head awkwardly. "Well,... you know she has a point. Wasn't exactly right what y'all did... Maybe I should have told her before we came over here. She'll come around though. I know it. Just let her steam a bit."

"Yeah... right." Bay sighed when Pat briefly put his hand on her arm, before he followed his family. The others were still gathered around and felt a bit awkward after having witnessed what had just happened. Bay felt highly uncomfortable and decided to remove herself from the situation. "Keys, please?"

"Why?" Daryl asked her.

"I need some air. Please?" she begged him with her eyes and Daryl relented. He handed over the keys and let her go outside. It was secure for now, so he didn't worry too much about her not being safe. Also, he would join her out there soon, just to keep an eye on her.

Merle grinned at Daryl when Bay had left. "Sooo, baby brother... gonna show me to my new humble abode now?"

"Just shut up." Daryl grumbled, but he still thought that it would work out better if he would show Merle to a cell instead of having his older brother choose one himself. The bottom ones were filled now, so he took Merle up the stairs and led him to the cell the farthest away from his and Bay's. "Get settled in." Daryl told him. "Then we gotta talk. Not in here, though. I'll be back in a bit."

* * *

Maggie had sat down on the steps, which lead out into the yard, and put her arm around Bay's shoulder and let the smaller woman lean into her side and cry silently. "Not the reunion you hoped for, was it?"

"I actually didn't have any expectations at all." Bay sniffed. "She's not wrong. I did screw up majorly. The truth hurts. She is rightfully angry at me. But yeah, after Daryl and Pat being happy that I wasn't dead, I guess I didn't expect her to be mad at me. Was just surprising."

"Why didn't you ever call them?"

"I don't even know... I think I was just being a coward. I was scared to face their disappointment in me. A part of me didn't want to see them or talk to them, because everything was connected to Daryl. I dunno... I just never did, even though I never stopped thinking about them."

"You'll work it out." Maggie smiled and leaned her head against Bay's.

"I hope so." Bay exhaled shakily. "Now that I got you alone for a moment, I wanted to run something by you."

"Okay. What is it?"

"Remember Jackie, my friend from the vet classes I took?"

"Yes. What about her?"

"Once, after class, I accompanied her to her gynecologist, because she said it wouldn't take long and she would give me a ride home after. Anyway, she told me that she was getting a birth control shot. I had never heard about that before, so she told me a little bit about it. She said that it is actually one of the most efficient ways to prevent pregnancy, if you got the shot regularly every 12 weeks. Like, only 1 out of 100 women got pregnant."

"Okay, where are you going with this?" Maggie had an idea, but she wanted Bay to elaborate.

"I remember the name of the drug she got injected with. I know two gynecologists in this town, plus there's the Associates in Obstetrics &amp; Gynecology offices on Burleyson Road. I bet when people went raiding for meds and supplies, they didn't think to clear out the gynecologists offices. And I'm sure not very many, if any at all, went looking for that specific drug. I think since it would be a trip mostly for us couples, that you, me, Glenn and Daryl should go for a run to check out those offices. They might have condoms, too. Birth control pills, maybe and hopefully that Depo-Provera stuff. It's one shot every three months. All we would have to do is keep track of time and that's it. If we find a decent supply and one shot lasts for 12 weeks, we would be good to go for quite some time without having to worry. And they might have stuff that might be useful for Lori's pregnancy and the birth and all those things. We would be able to examine her better with the right instruments."

"Sounds like a good idea. We should talk to the guys about it."

"That's the plan."

"Great thinking." Maggie praised Bay, who just shrugged her shoulder.

"I just want to be with Daryl without having to worry all the time."

"Would be great not having to worry about the damn rubbers. I hate condoms."

"You and me both. Always a hassle."

"Let's hope we'll be in luck." Maggie smiled and kissed the side of Bay's head, before she released her hold on the older woman, and got up. "I'm going back in. You coming?"

"No. I wanna stay here a little longer."

"Alright. Later."

"Later." Bay smiled before she was left alone with her thoughts again. She wasn't ready to go back in yet. She wasn't ready to face Merle and hear his voice and look at Erin's angry face. She just wanted to hide out here a bit longer and pretend that nothing had changed.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

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	40. Chapter 41

Chapter 40

Daryl took Merle away from the their cell block and deeper into the prison on their way towards the cafeteria. He thought that while they talked, they could make themselves useful and drag the bodies out of there, to be burnt later that day. That block was secure now as well and Daryl had the idea that him and Bay could sneak off into one of those cells for their alone time. Far away from prying eyes and ears. Maggie and Glenn could do the same, as well as Rick and Lori... if they would ever patch things up again.

"The fuck happened in Atlanta? Why'd you light out like that?" Daryl asked gruffly as they got to work.

"City was full of 'em damn biters. Had to get outta there with my nice lil' flesh wound."

"Yeah, I get that. Why didn't ya come back to camp? Why'd ya leave me behind? Again?"

Merle just shrugged. "Thought I was gon' be a goner soon. Thought I should go out with a bang."

"The fuck does that mean?"

"Reckoned it would only be fitting to go out where it all started. Went back home. Went looking at all the old places for some crank. Wanted to go out on my terms and high as a fucking kite. Don't feel nothin' no more... But I struck out... All the fucking warehouses them damn Mexicans used back in the day weren't there no more. Fucking town changed." Merle explained with a scoff.

"Went looking for drugs instead of comin' ta get me, huh? Sounds familiar..." Daryl muttered under his breath.

"What was that, little brother? Ain't sure I heard ya right."

"You heard me exactly right. You always talked a big game, but you was never there. Never. I'm letting fucking family down? **Me**? I ain't turned my back on family over and over again. That was you! The only time I turned my back on family was when I was fucking stupid enough to leave Dalton with you. Left Bay behind..."

"That again." Merle sighed with annoyance.

"Yeah, that again." Daryl spat when he straightened again after dragging the next body out of one of the cells.

"Come on, baby brother, that's old news. Ya found each other again. Be happy and let the past lie, or shit like that. What were the odds, huh? Folks thought she died. You found her alive. It's a fucking miracle, so why don't ya focus on that, instead of being a grudge carrying little prick?"

"Man, you ain't got no idea what you took from us, Merle." Daryl swung his arm out in front of him, one of his trademark moves when he got upset, while his voice started to rise in volume. "Got every right to carry a grudge."

"Would ya cut the dramatics? Yer acting like some pussy bitch drama queen." Merle waved him off while he dragged another dead walker out of a cell, using just his one hand.

Daryl just stood there with his hands on his hips and his head hung low, shaking it with a huff, before he looked back up at his brother. "Bay was pregnant." he stated and watched his older brother halt in his tracks. "The day you convinced me to leave? She had a doctor's appointment. Ain't been feelin' well for a while. We didn't think nothin' much of it. Stomach bug or something. We were careful..." Daryl was literally able to see the little wheels turn inside Merle's head as his big brother became aware of a couple of things. "You took her money."

"I-..." Merle was speechless when he realized that his actions had had bigger consequences than he'd thought. "I didn't know..."

"She was pregnant and you took her money. You took everything she had. Left her with nothing. She didn't have no money and no help. She didn't have me, although that ain't all your fault. I let myself get steamrolled by you... You get it now? She had no way to provide for that baby."

Merle swallowed hard and averted his gaze. "She kill it?"

"No." Daryl shook his head and stared at him with a hard gaze. "You did."

Merle's head snapped up sharply at that. "The hell?! I didn't!"

"Yeah, you did. Maybe ya didn't take a knife and stab her in the belly with it, but ya might as well have. What you did... what we both did, it destroyed her. She broke down. You fucking broke her, Merle. She didn't get out of bed no more. She lost her jobs. She didn't eat and she didn't drink nothing. Pat and Erin had ta force feed her to keep her alive." Daryl's voice shook a little when his imagination conjured up the images inside his head again.

"Yeah... they told me 'bout that. Didn't believe them. Said nothin' 'bout no baby though." Merle was stammering a bit while his mind was racing.

"They didn't know. She didn't tell nobody." Daryl swallowed down his tears and took a deep breath before he continued. "She had a miscarriage. She lost our kid. **My **kid. **Your **niece or nephew, Merle. You wanna tell me I'm turning my back on family one more time? 'Cause you killed part of my family. Your own blood. That kid had Dixon blood. You got my child's blood on your hands, Merle. We both do. You get that? Ain't no way to forgive myself for what I did, and there ain't no forgiving you neither. That's what you took from us. Having a real family together."

"I didn't know she was... How was I supposed to know if you didn't even know?"

"That ain't even the point! Don't you get it? You weren't supposed to take her shit in the first place! You weren't supposed to fucking lie to me in the first place! There was no danger from the Mexicans, was there? You paid them off usin' her money, then you sold me that bullshit story about how I gotta think of her and keep her safe, but all you wanted was to have me back to being your fucking lap dog. And I was fucking stupid enough to do it, because you used my fear of something happening to Bay against me. Nothing would have happened if I'd stayed, but she almost died 'cause I left. My child died, because I left. She had a miscarriage, she got hit by a fucking car because of it. She was in a coma for half a month, she has metal parts in her arm and shit like that, all because of the fucking lie you told! They scraped the remains of our baby out of her like she was some damn Halloween pumpkin! Do you fucking get it now? Do you get why you got off easy with her just kickin' you in the nuts?" Daryl was shouting, and everybody who was nearby heard.

Rick, Pat, Nick and Glenn, who were on their way back to the cafeteria, were standing around a corner, waiting for the men to finish up their talk. It wasn't like them to eavesdrop, but it was like a damn car accident, and they all wanted to hear what Merle had to say in response. Pat was shocked when he heard that Bay had been pregnant. He thought that if he had known, him and Erin and everybody else would have been stricter with her. Made her eat more, force her to swallow vitamins or shit like that. They could have helped her, but they hadn't known.

"I... I-I... didn't want to..." Merle was still at a loss for words. Back then, he had assumed Bay would be sad, yes, but he'd thought that she would just get her act together, just like when her parents had died, and earn the money back little by little. He had never meant to cause that much harm to her. He didn't hate the girl and she hadn't deserved all this fallout from his actions.

"Yeah... but you did it anyway." Daryl scoffed. "You always do."

"What am I s'pposed to do here, Daryl? I can't take it back." Merle sounded rather helpless, which didn't happen too often. It showed Daryl that Merle was truly shocked by what he had caused.

"If ya could... would ya? Tell me something, Merle. If ya had known about the baby, would that have changed your plans?" The answer to that question might not have been important to Bay, but Daryl was dying to know.

"Yeah. Wouldn't have left her in a lurch like that." Merle nodded while looking at the ground. "Baby, but no money and no baby daddy? Might be a lotta things, but I ain't enough like our old man that I would'a left her unable to provide for the kid. Guess we would have stayed and raised it all together." He mumbled with a shrug. Yeah, people might call him a white trash, inbred hick, but Merle had at least some sort of code. It wasn't too much like Daryl's, but he still wasn't asshole enough to abandon a kid. He wouldn't want for another Dixon to grow up in a broken home like him and Daryl. Not that it mattered now with this gone to shit world, but back then? No, he wouldn't have stolen her money if he had known. The only real reason why they left was because Merle hadn't felt like dealing with the consequences of taking the money. He liked taking the easy way out and getting the hell out of dodge had been the easy way out back then. Too bad that Bay and Daryl had been the ones to pay the price. _Maybe that's my punishment..., _Merle thought when he looked down at the metal contraption that was replacing his hand. Maybe that had been karma kicking him in the ass.

"Hm." Daryl grunted with a nod. _Maybe not all hope's lost for him. It's a start._

"How'd ya find her?" Merle asked his younger brother.

"Quarry got overrun the night we got back from trying to get ya back. People died. Jim was bit. We went to the CDC. Rick thought there might be people left, working on a cure. Was just one doc left in there. The building was some science-fiction high-tech shit. Was outta resources and blew itself up with the good doc and Jacqui in it. The rest of us got out and just kept going towards Fort Benning. Got stuck on I-85. Herd came through. Carol's girl came out of hidin' too early and a few stragglers chased her into the woods. We went out to look for her. Split up. Rick's boy got shot. I was in the other group. All of a sudden this chick came ridin' up on a horse with a baseball bat. That was Maggie. She was looking for Lori, told her about Carl getting shot and took her back to her farm. We followed them the other day. Met the family, except for one of the daughters. I walked around a bit, looking around. Heard noises behind the stables and went to check..." Daryl paused his recount of the events that had led him back to Bay, a small smile playing on his lips. "Thought I was losing my damn mind. Thought maybe one of 'em walkers had gotten me or something. There she was, cleaning out buckets. Thought I was hallucinatin' until Maggie joined her and talked to her. That's when I knew she was real. She was fucking pissed. All those years she thought I took her money and ruined everything for her."

"Looks like she forgave your ass."

"She did. Took a bit, but she came around and believed me eventually." Daryl said, and looked up when Rick and the others came around the corner.

"Ready to get the rest of the supplies?" Rick asked the hunter.

"Yeah. Done here. Just gotta burn 'em later." Daryl shouldered his crossbow and took the spare backpack from Rick.

"Let's go, then. Still got a lot to do." Rick urged them.

While they transported the goods to their cell block, Merle and Daryl kept talking. Daryl wanted to know how Merle ended up in a group with Pat and Erin.

"Like I said, I was looking for some nice meth... Couldn't find anything, so I went to the pharmacy on Main. Was in real bad shape by then. That shit hurt like a motherfucker." He referred to his right arm, which he lifted up in the air to show what he meant. "I knew I wasn't gonna make it much longer. Tried to speed things up. Wanted to get all the meds in me I could get, but the pharmacy's been picked clean, except for some cold medicine and shit like that. Guess I got delirious or something, must have been in and out of consciousness. That's when your buddy back there found me. They'd picked the pharmacy clean. Had taken all the meds and came back for the cold stuff, because the little one was having a cough. He brought me back here and they patched me up. Saved my damn life."

Daryl snorted at Merle's miserable tone. "Yeah, bet you just hate that ya owe them, huh?"

"He's a cocky bastard, but he's alright I guess. The little lady's fine, too. Kid's quiet. That Nick guy is a fucking weirdo. Thinks he's funny or something. Idiots keep chuckling their asses off... Still, could be worse, I reckon. Might be worse from now on with fucking Officer Friendly all up in my face." Merle spat disdainfully.

"Rick's alright. He's done right by you." Daryl protested. "We came back for you. All ya had to do was wait."

"Right... what happened to the stupid nigga who dropped the fucking key down the drain?"

"Went down when the farm got overrun."

"Guess there is such a thing as justice." Merle grinned slightly.

"Shut up." Daryl decided that for now, he'd had heard enough coming out of Merle's mouth.

* * *

A while later, when they were done getting everything out of that cafeteria, Daryl returned his back pack to the cell he shared with Bay. She was outside, getting fresh water with Maggie, Hershel and Dale, and he probably wouldn't get to spend time with her until dinner, because he would go back outside to help burn the bodies. When he entered the cell, his foot kicked something further into the small space. He looked at the ground and saw an unfamiliar notebook. He thought that Beth must have visited with Bay and must have forgotten to take it back to her cell, but when he bend over to pick it up, he noticed that it was actually Bay's handwriting on the page. The book had flipped open when he'd kicked it, because a pen was stuck between the pages, so her handwriting immediately caught his eye now.

_I feel like something inside of me broke, but I don't know what and I don't know how to fix it. I don't know who I am anymore. Even in my darkest days, I didn't use to be like this. I don't like who I am right now. I want to go back, but I don't know if I can and that's killing me. I miss Daryl. It's getting better, now that we are here at the prison and are able to spend more time together without him constantly looking over both our shoulders. The past four months have been my own personal hell. Not because of the way the world is now, but because I was with the man I love, without actually truly being with him in a couple-y sense. It makes me think back to when we first got together. I wanted us to stay friends if he didn't want to be with me. Now I know that I never would have been able to do that. It would have slowly killed my soul. Having him close without being able to simply hug him, much less touch or kiss him, that was the absolute worst. Seeing Carol flirt with him just added fuel to the fire. I took my frustrations out on the walkers. Nobody knows that Daryl had to pull me away a couple of times, because I wasn't able to stop stabbing or kicking them. What if I do that to an actual person one day? What if something in my brain just short-circuits and makes me lose control? Am I losing myself? Maybe that's what's happening and what has me in this weird rut I'm in. I need to get out of it, not just for my sake, but for Daryl's sake and for that of my family as well. I can't stand hurting and worrying them any longer, but I don't know what to do. I hope that maybe the stability we might be able to establish here will help me. Lord knows I like my boring routines._

Daryl's heart hurt when he read what she had written. This is what Hershel had talked about earlier. Bay had changed and she was suffering from it. He hadn't fully realized how much, simply because he had been busy with keeping her and the others safe. She was right. He had never been able to fully focus on her. He had always looked over their shoulders, paying more attention to the dangers that might have been lurking, than to her. If the roles had been reserved, that would have frustrated him, too. In a way it had frustrated him as well, but he'd been too driven to fully acknowledge that feeling. Now things had to change. He'd promised to take care of her. In the past couple of months he had protected her with all he had, but he hadn't truly taken care of her. Not emotionally. He just hadn't been able to. It had to be different now. It just had to. As soon as everything was secure and taken care of, he wanted to go back to spending more time with her. They truly didn't know how much longer they had together. He wanted to make it count.

"Daryl?" Bay called out to him, making him jump and toss the notebook on one of the cots.

"Yeah?" he walked out to the landing.

"You got three minutes?"

Daryl smirked in amusement at her specific request. "Yeah, but not a second longer." he deadpanned.

"Very funny." she playfully narrowed her eyes at him and poked his ribs once she was close enough. "I talked to Maggie earlier... I want her, Glenn, you and me to go on a special run. I wanted to talk to you first, before I ran it by Rick."

"What kind of special run?"

"We're gonna take a trip to all the gynecologists in town. We might find useful things for Lori and the baby, but the main reason Maggie and I want to go, is to go look for a drug called Depo-Provera."

"Uh-hu... why? What's that stuff for?" Daryl frowned in confusion.

"It's a birth control shot. One injection and we won't need condoms or any other kind of birth control for 12 weeks." Bay lowered her voice while she explained it to him.

"And that's safe?"

"It is, if you get it regularly every 12 weeks. A friend from vet school used to get them. She said it's even more effective than the pill. And the pregnancy rates are incredibly low, simply because it's not like a condom that burst or a pill you forgot to take. One shot and you're good for three months. Imagine we'd find enough for 10 shots. Five for each of us. Five shots mean 15 months of no danger of having a baby."

"Really? No fucking rubbers? We can do everythin? Bareback?"

"Yup." Bay said slowly. A smile appeared on her lips at Daryl's stupid little smile.

"Yeah, let's do it. Worth a shot. What about Beth and the others?"

"Beth doesn't need birth control. No boyfriend. Carol won't need it either. Lori's pregnant, so she's out, too. At least for another couple of months."

"Erin?"

"Hm... yeah, right... Gotta split it by three then. But I don't think it will be too bad. If one of the gynos kept that stuff around, then I'm sure it's more than just one vial or one syringe or whatever it comes in."

"Yeah, makes sense. Alright, gotta get back out there." Daryl leaned in and kissed her gently. "See ya later?"

"Of course." She smiled and pressed a kiss to his biceps when he went past her.

* * *

Bay ignored Merle whenever she walked by him, and Merle gave her her space. For once he kept his mouth shut, because he didn't even know what to say to her. Sorry didn't seem to cut it. Instead he focused his attention on the Grimes boy and the part of him that was missing.

"What happened to you?" Merle asked when Carl tried helping put the new supplies away in one of the cells.

"Got bit." Carl replied and eyed Merle's metal contraption.

"Ain't that a bitch. Your daddy take your arm off?"

"No. Hershel did. Daryl and Bay held me down." Carl muttered quietly. The memories were just as painful as the procedure had been.

"Yeah..." Merle recognized the expression on Carl's face. "Ya never forget that pain... You get phantom pains?"

"You get them, too?" Carl looked up at him in surprise.

"Yeah. A whole fucking lot. Was a pain in the ass. Gets better over time." Merle explained, in his own way giving Carl a bit of hope that things would improve in the future. "You got dealt some shitty cards, but ya know what? That kind of shit builds character. Makes ya stronger. You're gonna be one hard to kill son of a bitch." Merle smirked, when Carl started to grin proudly.

"I got pretty good shooting with my left hand."

"That's good. You lift some weights? Build up some muscle?"

"No."

"You should start. Will help ya out some. You can start by helping carrying the buckets of water in. Should be enough for starters. Don't overdo it. You don't wanna get too sore. You gotta remember that ya only got that one arm to defend yourself. Gotta make it strong to make up for the other one." Merle shared some advice with Carl, thinking the boy could use it. No one who hadn't gone through it themselves knew how tough it was to adjust. Especially if you used to be right-handed.

"I will." Carl nodded and smiled at the man he used to be scared off back at the quarry. Now he thought that maybe Merle wasn't **that **bad. Now they had something in common and even though Carl wasn't quite able to decipher the feeling, being in Merle's presence made him feel not so alone anymore.

Rick nodded to himself and continued to change his shirt in the adjacent cell. He had made the right decision by offering to merge groups and have Merle around. He had been right about it maybe helping Carl. No matter how much Rick and Merle didn't see eye to eye, Merle was still the only one who truly got what Carl was dealing with. Rick would do everything for Carl, and if having Merle around made Carl feel better, then he would keep Merle around, no matter how much he would mouth off in the future.

* * *

Bay didn't startle when she felt his warm, rough hands on her naked back. She had heard him enter the cell, and she was able to feel him close to her. His hands slipped around to her front, while he stepped closer and she felt the fabric of his sleeveless olive-colored shirt pressed against her back. She inhaled shakily when his lips grazed her neck at the same time he cupped her bare breasts.

"Daryl..." she half moaned, half breathed, when her knees buckled slightly at the sensation of having his thumbs flick her hardened nipples. This was what she had missed while they had been on the run. The little spontaneous moments where they could be alone, where they could be themselves and just enjoy without overthinking things or having to worry too much.

Daryl growled quietly against her skin when he heard his name on her lips. He slid his hands to her hips and turned her around to face him. He kissed her deeply, his tongue thrusting into her mouth and massaged hers tantalizingly. He pushed her up against the wall, making her squeal and buck into him when the cold wall met with her heated skin. They both chuckled into the kiss and Daryl pulled at her hips while she arched her back, getting most of it away from the wall. At the same time, the position made her offer up her boobs for some more playtime. An opportunity Daryl gladly made use of. He released her lips and nipped and licked at the column of her throat. His hand came up to squeeze her right breast, while his mouth reached the left one. He gave her nipple a nice suck, pulling at the sensitive flesh until it plopped back out of his mouth with a wet sound.

"Damn..." Bay moaned quietly with closed eyes. One of her hands grabbed the back of his head, holding him to her, while the other held on to his wrist, loving feeling the strong muscles flex when he squeezed her breast. "You shouldn't... I got all sweaty today."

"Don't care. Ya taste fucking delicious, baby girl." he grunted against her breast before he closed his mouth around her again. Yeah, her skin tasted salty and faintly like sweat, but mostly she tasted like Bay. Pure essence of Bay, and that made his blood rush in his ears and his cock harden quickly inside his too-loose pants.

They both felt a gust of cooler air, before they were torn out of their little haze by Pat's voice. "Hey, can I talk to y-... oh shit! Sorry,... sorry." He snorted slightly in amused laughter when he quickly turned around.

"The hell?! Can't ya knock or whistle or something?" Daryl released Bay and quickly pushed her behind him to block her from view.

"Sorry, didn't think... " Pat chuckled. _Hmm, her tits really are perky. Jus' like he said back then... _Pat couldn't help but think to himself with a grin. He was a guy and he never forgot anything boob-related.

Bay was surprised that she didn't feel embarrassed by having gotten caught. It was funny and mildly frustrating to her instead of mortifying. As usual, she skipped the bra and just threw on a clean t-shirt before she faced the guys again. "Relax. Guess it's bound to happen with so many people around." She smiled. Despite having gotten interrupted, the little intimate moment had been nice and had definitely lifted her spirits for the time being. "What can we do for you?"

"Erin had a couple of hours to calm down and gather her thoughts... and she would like to know if we could have dinner together. Just the four of us in one of our cells? So we can talk some?"

"You up for it?" Daryl asked Bay, knowing it was hard for her to face her friend again after the icy reception earlier.

"Yeah, sure. We'll be down in a minute." Bay smiled, and when Pat had left the cell, she turned her attention back to Daryl. "By the way, Rick has signed off on that special run we talked about earlier."

"Good. When do ya wanna do it?"

"Tomorrow. Now, with more guys to help out Rick around here, he's able to spare us. Although he is not very happy about you going." Bay smirked.

"Why?" Daryl frowned.

"Because he trusts you the most. He's used to you two having each other's backs."

"He's gonna get used to Pat. Will be good for Rick to have tomorrow to see that he can trust them, too."

"I think so." Bay smiled and closed her eyes when his warm hands cradled her face.

Daryl lovingly kissed her forehead before resting his own against it. "You gonna be okay?" he asked her, referring to facing Erin again.

"I'll always be okay for as long as I have you, my love."

"That was fucking cheesy, sweetheart." he chuckled before he kissed her sweetly.

"I know. But it's true."

"Not entirely true, hm?"

"What do you mean?" Bay pulled back a little and looked up at him questioningly.

"We were together every day the past couple of months, but ya weren't okay."

"That's right. Because I need **this**, this right here. I can't stand just living together side by side like friends that are in love with each other. I'm a girl. I need the couple-stuff. We always had that. We always had this intimacy, even when we were still dancing around each other for a couple of weeks before we first kissed. I missed it more than words can ever say and I am very, very glad, that we are getting it back right now. Please don't judge me for being so freakishly much in love with you and being so addicted to all of you, that just being near you wasn't enough to make me wanna shout my happiness from the rooftops."

"Isn't it usually the other way around?" Daryl narrowed his eyes with a little smirk.

"What?"

"If yer so much in love with me, shouldn't just being near me have been enough?"

"I never said I was normal. So no... I appreciate every moment we have together. But to be really, really happy. I need to have this connection with you."

He smiled and kissed her long and hard, before he responded. "Like ya said, we're getting that back now. Gotta make the best of it for as long as this will last."

"Exactly. Now let's go and see if Erin will be able to forgive me."

They shared one last kiss before Daryl took her hand and guided her out of their cell and downstairs to go visit Erin and Pat in theirs.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Thank you bunches to everyone who left a review. Your nice words make up for all the people who are abandoning ship and sending me hate. **

**Sorry, no personalized thanks today due to trouble with the site. I hope this will get posted at all. I tried all day yesterday. Love to all of you. **


	41. Chapter 42

**AN: I apologize in advance if there's more mistakes than usual in this. I am on 7 different medications to fight this demon of an illness that has befallen me. I am not quite myself these days. So, sorry:-* Enjoy (I hope).**

* * *

Chapter 41

Daryl, Erin and Bay sat on the lower cot in the cell Pat shared with his new family. Pat sat on the ground across from them, shoveling some dinner into his mouth.

Bay cleared her throat with an awkward smile. "Ummm,... Alex seems to be bonding well with Carl and Sophia..."

"He is. I'm glad he has other children around him now. He's been very withdrawn..." Erin said as she let her eyes trail over to the open cell door, to watch Alex play a card game with Sophia and Carl on a blanket by the stairs. She sighed deeply before she turned her eyes back on Bay. "Is it true that you were pregnant?"

Daryl and Bay's eyes widened in surprise. "How'd you know about that?" Bay asked her.

Pat swallowed down his food and quickly cleared his throat before he addressed Daryl. "We heard you talking to Merle earlier."

"You told Merle?" Bay's eyebrows rose even higher.

"Yeah. He knows. And he's sorry." Daryl told her.

"That would be a first." Bay scoffed.

"I mean it. He was real shocked." Daryl insisted, sounding like a little boy, just like every time Merle had started to meddle with his head.

"Oh come on." Bay waved him off with a shake of her head.

"He was." Pat came to Daryl's and Merle's defense. "I don't think he meant for all of that to happen."

"I don't care."

"Can we forget about Merle for a moment? That's not what we sat down together for." Erin put a stop to the Merle discussion. "Bay, can you please tell me what happened? Why didn't you tell us about the baby? And what was that about an accident? Please explain to me everything that happened when you left, okay? I wanna try to understand."

"Okay." Bay nodded, and for what felt like the hundredth time, she told the story of her short pregnancy, her decision to leave and her miscarriage and the accident that had her comatose for two weeks. Hearing Bay tell it made Erin cry, which in turn made Bay cry again, and seeing the girls cry made Pat emotional as well. He screwed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose to get himself in check. Daryl looked at the ground and chewed on his lip, not letting anyone see the unshed tears in his eyes while he listened to Bay tell again what had happened to her. It killed him a little bit every single time he heard her say that their child had died and that she had been in such bad shape. "I missed all of you so much. You can ask Hershel... I talked about you a lot, but I just couldn't get in touch with you. I was a coward. I let you all down and I was scared of facing you. Also, all of you bring up so many memories... I didn't think I would be able to handle it. I rarely left the farm, because I was scared I'd run into you in Calhoun by accident... I screwed up in the worst way. I disappointed you and let you down and I'm really, really sorry about it. I'd never do it again."

Erin wiped at her tears while she nodded her head. "You know, I get that you had to get out of town. I know how much those memories can hurt, but that doesn't change the fact that you should have told us about it. I never wanted to think of you as suicidal, but seeing the way you were... You had given up. I'll never get the image out of my head of how Pat had to hold you up while I tried to get some water in you. It was like all systems had shut down inside of you. When it was clear that Daryl wouldn't be back, it was like your soul had left the building. You were like one of those undead things out there. So when that call came... when the cops found your bag... I didn't doubt it when they said you jumped. Now, I wish I had. I'm sure we would have found you, but we believed the police. We thought you had taken your own life, Bay. For over 10 years. Not just Pat and me were grieving for you... Sam, Jason, Jessa, Pete, Tommy,... hell, everybody who knew you. Everybody was devastated. If you had only called, Bay. One single call would have been all it would have taken. You could have prevented a lot of misery. I don't understand why you didn't have it in you to just call us and tell us that you were okay. Yeah, I admit, it would have been hard for us to accept that you didn't want to see us. We would have tried to convince you otherwise, but you owed it to us to let us know Bay. Or even a damn letter... anything. Did we really mean that little to you?"

"No, you didn't." Bay protested while tears ran down her face in a steady stream. "I missed you so much. I truly did. I don't know. I simply don't know why I never got in touch with you. I can't tell you. I wasn't the most rational person back then. I was in a really bad place. Maybe I thought you'd be better off without my drama. I wish I could give you a definite answer, but I can't. I can't take it back unfortunately, all I can do is say that I am so, so sorry for what I did, over and over again. I still love you like I did back then."

Erin nodded and looked at Bay in silence for a moment, before she suddenly started laughing and put her hands on Bay's cheek. "Good God, I really can't believe that you're truly sitting here."

"Are you kidding? I can't believe you guys are here, either."

"And look at you. How is it fair that you got even more gorgeous? Jesus Christ... Daryl must have filled one of them buckets you cleaned by drooling all over you."

"Stop! Oh my Lord..." Bay blushed and waved her off. "You know I don't think of myself like that. Never have. At least I got some hips and an ass now, but I still don't like my huge bug eyes. I look like a fly. And just for the record, look in a damn mirror, Erin. You look amazing. And you had a kid! You don't seem to have any wrinkles at all. How on Earth did you manage that?"

"Women." Patrick snorted and looked at Daryl with an incredulous, but also amused expression on his face. "It's the end of the world and they compliment each other on their skin?"

"Pfff, you're one to talk. First thing ya told me was that I look old." Daryl grumbled good-naturedly.

Erin laughed out loud at that. "Well, to his defense, you probably changed the most out of all of us. I'm not sure I would have recognized you, if you would have passed me on the street. Your hair is darker and your face is really different. You had this baby face and now it's all sharp angles and facial hair and so on. You do look older than you are... **But **in a really good way. Manly..." Erin quickly added when Daryl's scowl deepened.

Bay grinned and pressed her lips to his ear. "What she means to say is, that you're sex on legs now." She whispered, making a little smile tug at the corners of his lips. "I'm crazy about you. Maybe even more so than before."

Daryl pulled back a little and looked deeply into her eyes. "Let's talk about that later." He rasped and squeezed her thigh in his strong grip. Maybe, if they would go looking for birth control tomorrow, they might be able to use that last condom tonight.

"Yeah, absolutely." Bay agreed with him. "So..." She nervously cracked her knuckles when she looked back at Erin. "... do you think you might be able to forgive me?"

"You are aware that all of your reasoning for not getting in touch is bullshit, right?" Erin asked before giving her answer.

"I do... Yeah." Bay shook her head with a laugh.

Erin smiled and hugged her hard. "I'm disappointed and a little hurt, but I love you, too, and I'm glad we are getting more time together. We should make the most of it. Holding a grudge is a waste of time. I won't forget, but I can forgive."

"Thank you." Bay swallowed hard when a fresh batch of tears welled up in her eyes. She was beyond happy that they would be okay. She kissed Erin's cheek and the women hugged a while longer before they loosened their embrace. Then, Daryl had to tell his part of the story all the way up until the day he reunited with Bay on the farm. They both told Pat and Erin of their journey so far, before the other couple told them about their time together. It got very late very fast, and Daryl's hope of sneaking off with Bay for some alone time quickly went down the drain. He didn't mind too much, though. Catching up with their best friends felt really good. He would even go as far as to say that it made him happy. It was a piece of normalcy that had been sorely missing. He was downright ecstatic to have Pat back. He still considered him his "brother from another mother". He was definitely way happier about having Pat back in his life, than having Merle back.

"We should go up and sleep." Daryl told Bay when he realized how late it must be by now. Most of the others had already gone to their cells to sleep. "Gotta be on top of our game tomorrow."

"You're right." Bay agreed, even though she didn't feel like ending their evening already.

"Oh come on, just a little longer. Ain't gonna be too much to do tomorrow. Lure some more motherfuckers into the cells and pick 'em off through the bars, that's what your pal Rick said, right?"

"Yeah. You're on your own with Rick tomorrow. Bay and I are going on a run into town with Maggie and Glenn."

"What?" Erin's eyes widened. She had never been comfortable with the men of their group leaving the prison to go into town. "What in the world for? I would like to think we have everything we need for a while."

"Not everything." Bay smiled. "As you know Lori is pregnant. We want to raid some gynecologist's offices and go look for pregnancy and birth related things... As well as birth control shots. I figured it would be the best for all of us if we can get our hands on that stuff."

"That's a great idea." Erin said as a slow smile broke out on her face.

"Birth control shots?" Patrick frowned. "What's that?"

"It's a shot women can get and it prevents pregnancy. For three whole months if I'm not mistaken." Erin was grinning by now.

"You're kidding!" Pat looked stunned. "Do you really think you could get your hands on something like that? Man, it's been ages since we fucked." He blurted out, making Bay and Daryl blush. Both of them didn't know why in the world they were still getting red faces when someone else mentioned things like that, but looked like it was just the way it was going to be.

"We are most certainly going to try." Bay promised. "Erin, are the doctors offices still in the same places they used to be?"

"Let me think... yeah, I think so. If you have time you should check the free clinic, too. And maybe Planned Parenthood?"

"Yeah, those are good ideas. I don't think we'll be able to look at all those places, but we'll do our best." Bay said before she smiled at Daryl. "You're right. If we wanna do good tomorrow, we should go to sleep now. Looks like the little guy is tired, too." Bay nodded her head over to the little boy, who was still with Carl on the blanket, but was starting to yawn real big.

"Too bad." Erin smiled and hugged Bay once more. "I'm being silly, we're living together now. We're gonna be fed up with each other soon, but it's been nice catching up just now."

"I know what you mean." Bay smiled while she hugged her back.

"Come on." Daryl urged her. "See y'all tomorrow."

"Sleep tight." Pat smiled. "Come on, Alex. Time for bed."

Alex said good night to Carl and got up to walk over to his parents. Bay smiled at him when he passed her and Daryl. He was a cutie. She got a bit melancholic when she remembered her own child, once again wondering if he or she would look like Daryl, just like Alex looked like Sam. She would never get an answer, a fact she had accepted a long while ago, but it still hurt every now and then.

* * *

"_Stop! Bay, stop!" His hand on her wrist and his firm, yet gentle, grasp had pulled her out of her rage-fueled haze. She let him pull her backwards, taking a step back from the corpse on the ground. Her chest was heaving as she blinked in confusion, trying to understand what had just happened. She had obviously gone berserk on a walker, and she hadn't even realized it while it had happened. It was like a partial black out in her head. Everything about her shut down and her single focus became inflicting as much damage as possible. It was a little scary. Not just to Daryl, but to her as well. It wasn't the first time this had happened. It had happened with Cassie so many years ago, albeit in a much less scary way, and it had happened with another walker before. Those rage fits seemed to get more hardcore with every passing time and it worried the both of them. "You alright? Did it get you?" Daryl asked as he quickly looked her over._

"_I'm fine."_

"_Christ, girl. Ya gotta be quick about it. Don't let 'em come too close." Daryl admonished her._

"_I'm sorry. I don't know what happened." Bay rubbed her tired face. She grasped the hilt of her knife tighter, wincing when she felt a cut. She had cut herself again, just like the last time. _

"_Ya gotta keep a clear head, Bay. Only way to survive out here." Daryl shook his head with a sigh. "We've been through this before. Whenever possible ya keep 'em at arms length. If they come too close, you try to kick 'em back a little. That'll give ya some more time to strike. I know you're strong, but don't use your full strength. Knife's sharp, it goes in easily. If you plunge it in there with all ya have, ya can get it stuck and you're gon' be in a world of trouble. Your hands get sweaty and bloody, so the hilt will slip from your grasp and you won't have no chance to pull it out of the walker while others are coming closer. Ya gotta remember that at all times, ya hear? Keep it together."_

"_Sorry, Dad." She rolled her eyes at his lecture, making his expression harden._

"_Don't get funny with me. This ain't no damn laughing matter. There comes another. Show me you can do it or you'll stay in the car with the kids the next time. I ain't kiddin', Bay." His stern gaze through narrowed eyes let her know that he was serious. She sighed and with renewed purpose, she ignored the stinging pain of her cut and grasped the knife firmly in her hand while she strode towards the stray walker that was making its way towards them. Once she was close enough she kicked it to the ground and stepped on its chest while she plunged the knife into its forehead. She made a face at that disgusting squelching sound when she pulled it out, but she quickly slipped back into a neutral expression before she turned around and looked at Daryl. _

"_There. Better?"_

"_Yeah." Daryl put his hand on her stomach to stop her when she was about to walk past him. "I just wanna make sure you're safe, Bay." he murmured in a gentler tone._

_Bay's breath hitched when she felt his hand on her body. She hated that he always had this kind of effect on her, even when they were tired, starving, dirty and pissed off. She hated feeling that tingle in her loins that let her know that it had been way too long since her lover had touched her more intimately. While she thought about it, the picture of Daryl's thick digits sliding down between her legs and cupping her flashed up inside her head, making her have to shake herself and take a deep breath. _

"_I know." She said and gingerly removed his hand from her belly before she kept walking._

Bay was laying in Daryl's arms with her eyes closed, but she wasn't falling asleep. She kept thinking about the past couple of months and how her slight depression and her frustrations had caused her to act like an unbearable brat towards Daryl. She had lost her cool. The sense of inner calmness she had used to possess had burnt to ashes along with part of her former home. Thankfully, she felt it start to come back to her little by little. Who would have thought that these glum, grey prison walls would be a key element to her finding her hope and optimism again?

Bay turned around in his arms so she was facing him. It was dark and she was barely able to make him out, but she still smiled when she was able to make out his profile in the bit of moonlight that shone through the windows. They loved each other unconditionally, she knew it was true, but thinking back to the way she had acted, she was surprised that he hadn't kicked her ass to the curb, figuratively speaking. "Thank you for your patience and for loving me no matter what. I love you." She whispered and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.

"Welcome." Came the sleepy reply that had her chuckling quietly. She had figured he would hear her. He was a light sleeper and had probably woken up a little when she had turned in his arms. His breathing had already evened out again by the time she rested her head on his chest and closed her eyes again to try to get some shut eye after all.

* * *

"Alright, let's see what we're dealing with." Daryl mumbled around the small flashlight in his mouth while he got his bow ready to fire. Glenn then banged his fist against the doorway and whistled, making noise to attract walkers that might be inside the building of the first gynecologist they decided to try their luck at. They waited a minute, but it stayed quiet. No shuffling feet, no inhuman groans coming closer. They filed in and split up into two teams, then they carefully checked all the rooms for walkers.

"Clear!" Glenn's voice traveled through the medical practice a couple of minutes later.

Daryl had checked the waiting room and was now following Bay into the exam room. "Clear." he shouted back to Glenn and Maggie. He looked around and made a face upon seeing that famous exam chair and all those weird instruments that were still laid out. "Jesus Christ..." he muttered with a shudder, making Bay laugh.

"Still wonder why I was so reluctant to come here all those years ago?"

"Nah,... I get it." Daryl watched her stuff some of the instruments into her backpack, along with bottles of disinfectant. "The hell is that?"

"This?" Bay held up a speculum before she put it in her pack. "This is what they put inside of you and then they turn this little thing here and see? Spreads you open. Not the fun kind of stretching, I can tell you that."

Daryl shuddered visibly and turned his back on her. "Christ..." he muttered again, before he got it together again. "What am I looking for?"

"Walkers." Bay smiled. "Leave the rest up to me and Maggie."

"Ain't gotta say that twice." Daryl gladly took the job of being on the lookout for walkers that might be strolling in, even though it was not too likely. The streets had been pretty clear and the building was clear, too. However, he walked over to the door and took watch.

Bay used her knife to open the drawers of the doctor's desk. She found some samples for condoms and prenatal vitamins, as well as some helpful literature. She used her knife once more to open a big locked cabinet and her hunch was confirmed when the doors opened. She had found the meds. "Bingo." She quietly smiled to herself and quickly checked some labels. Some painkillers, antibiotics, local anesthetic, among other things, and last but not least, she found what they had initially come for. "Depo-Provera... you have no idea how happy I am to see you." She grinned and saw that they not only had some vials of it, but also some ready-to-use syringes already filled with the proper amount of the drug. She grabbed it all, as well as supplies they would need to give themselves the injections from the vials, and when her pack was stuffed to the brim, she went to join the others. "You find anything?" She asked Maggie.

"Iron pills and a couple of books that might come in handy. Aaaand a portable ultrasound?"

"Seriously? That is awesome!"

"I know. What about you? Any luck?" Maggie asked her, eager to know if her search for the birth control shots had been successful.

"You have no idea. Enough shots to last us about 2 years I guess. Found some rubbers, too."

"Are you for real?" Glenn didn't dare smile when he heard Bay say it, but it was obvious how happy he was at not having to worry about getting Maggie pregnant for a long while.

"Very much so. Also packed some other meds and things we can use for examining Lori a bit better."

"Let's get out of here then." Daryl urged them. "Still wanna hit that other place?"

"Of course. The more we can find, the better."

And find even more they did. The next place was bigger, because it was kind of a small medical center with 4 different OB/GYNs, but it also meant that they had more supplies. Bay had been right. Nobody had thought to raid the "women doctors", and there were plenty of meds to go around. Thankfully they had taken a car and were able to fit everything into the back. They had surgical scalpels now and stuff to make sure they are clean and germ-free. If push came to shove they might be able to do some old-school surgery. Of course they didn't hope it would ever come to that, but it eased their minds a bit to know, that they had those things.

Making the building walker-free had been a bit of a bitch, but it had been worth it in many ways. "Should we try and hit a store? See if they got some food left?" Bay asked when they got back into their car.

"Let's get back." Maggie disagreed with her.

"Yeah, shouldn't stay gone too long." Daryl said. "We got enough food at the prison for now. We can come back another time. Got enough shit in the back anyway."

"You're right. Okay, then let's head back." Bay leaned back into her seat with a satisfied smile. Their mission had been a success and she was proud that it hadn't just been a selfish trip for birth control, but that they had also found useful things for Lori and the baby, as well as the rest of the group.

* * *

"You wanna do the honors?" Bay held the syringe with the birth control drug out to Daryl. "I can't do it myself. I hate needles."

Daryl paused and looked at the item with suspicion. "Ain't gotta put that needle inside of ya, do I? Like 'tween your legs?"

"God no!" Bay laughed and shuddered at the same time. "Arm or butt, just like any other injection."

He smirked at hearing that. "Alright. Take your pants down, sweetheart."

"Why did I know you'd say that?" Bay laughed lightly while she unfastened her belt. Daryl covered the bars of the cell with his poncho, once again thinking that they would have to hunt down some bigger sheets or something to use as curtains.

"That was a pretty predictable one, I reckon. Ain't never wastin' no chance to see your pretty ass naked." Daryl said while he watched her shove her black jeans down to her knees. "Brace yourself against that wall." he told her as he held on to her hips and positioned her.

"Jesus, what are you gonna do? Shoot it into my butt with your crossbow?" Bay laughed, before she looked at him over her shoulder with a bit of panic in her eyes. "Seriously, that's not what you're gonna do, right?"

"Ain't that dense." he laughed and kissed her gently. "Relax. Gonna be better for ya if ya trust me and relax, baby girl."

"I know." She exhaled a shaky breath and turned her face back to face the wall. Daryl went down on his knees behind her. He slowly pulled her panties down over her right butt cheek, softly kissing the skin he was unveiling.

"Ain't never played doctor before." He said while he grabbed one of the disinfectant wipes Bay had brought with her into their cell.

"Me neither, but I'm guessing people don't usually use real needles for that." She said while she exhaled deeply with nervousness. She really hated needles.

"Might be right about that." Daryl agreed as he wiped down her skin. "Don't worry Miss Moore, it's gon' be over soon."

"Oh my God." Bay laughed. "Are you Dr Dixon now?"

"Right this moment? I guess I am." he smirked while he took the cap off the needle. He shifted a little to get a better angle. Bay was about to tell him to get it over with already, when suddenly she jumped and let out a mix between a laugh and a yelp, when she felt him bite her ass.

"Daryl! Would you stop being cheeky and get it over with, please? I'm about to die here."

"Already done." He shrugged in his nonchalant way and pressed the cap back down on the needle. He kissed her ass in the spot he had bitten and handed her the empty syringe.

"Are you serious? Wow. Okay, Dr. Dixon. Guess I'll come back to see you again in 90 days." She smiled while she pulled her pants back up. She put her hands to his face and pulled him down to kiss him sweetly. "Thank you."

"Anytime. That stuff work right away?" He asked, trying not to sound too eager.

"It says that we should wait 7 days."

"Mhm." he grunted as his hope deflated. _Waited over 11 years... 7 days ain't gon' be no problem, _he tried to give himself a pep talk, but he couldn't wait to be able to be with her without having to use a condom. That's why he'd been so pushy about her going on birth control back in the day, because the rubbers did make a huge difference. Without those pesky things it simply felt a hundred times better and more intense. Also, ever since they've found this save haven and he didn't have to worry nonstop, he's been finding himself to be pretty horny lately. He was a bit ashamed of it, because big-picture-wise, there were way more important things he should be thinking about, but he couldn't help it. Seeing Bay walk around in her little tops and t-shirts, mostly bra-less of course,... that sight never got old for him. Walking in on her changing every now and then, seeing her bare legs and that scrumptious ass of hers or even her pretty boobs... yeah, he was a guy... he couldn't help but keep those images in mind and/or take advantage of the situation a little bit.

"Okay, today is Day 1..." Bay grabbed the notebook Beth had given her and flipped to the last page. "Birth control calendar." She muttered while she wrote down the headline and then made the first mark. "Alright, done. I'm gonna go down and organize the meds and everything." She said as she fastened her belt and quickly pecked his lips.

"Imma find Rick and Pat. See if they need more help and how they got along." Daryl sighed and grabbed his crossbow. He would have loved to stay in the cell with Bay a bit longer, but they couldn't be selfish. There were still a lot of things that had to be done.

"Good idea. See you later, baby." she smiled and left the cell ahead of him.

* * *

Bay had delivered the prenatal vitamins to Lori, who had been very grateful, before she went into one of the cells they used for storage. Everything had been tossed on the bunks in wild disarray, and she started to sort through everything and organize it. She was engrossed in her work and therefore she didn't notice that someone was watching her do it. Only when the person came closer and leaned against the open cell door did she notice that someone was there. She looked over with a smile on her face, expecting a friendly face from the group, but her expression quickly hardened when she saw that it was Merle, of all people, who was standing there and watching her.

She didn't say anything to him. She just shot him a dark look before she averted her gaze again and went back to work. Merle wasn't perturbed by it. He was used to getting not-so-friendly receptions. He kept watching her and studying her. _Girl still looks good... a real woman now. Back then I used ta think 'if she'd only be a couple years older...' Well, now at this age, age don't matter no more... If things were different I'd give that sweet ass a try. _Merle was smirking to himself when he watched her bend over to pick up a pack of latex gloves that had fallen off the top bunk.

Bay kept ignoring him and it worked pretty well while he was just standing there, but of course it didn't take too long until he decided to open his mouth. "Goin' back out there tomorrow, yeah?"

Bay didn't reply, she just let out an annoyed sigh, but that still didn't deter Merle. "Ya need a better knife. Can't believe my dummy of a brother didn't make sure ya have a better one."

"My knife is fine. Daryl did the best he could, given the circumstances. You know that bashing him won't win you any points with me." Bay told him sharply. From where she stood, Merle hadn't changed at all. Already back to calling his little brother an idiot.

"Ain't sayin' the knife is bad... jus' sayin' there's better ones." Merle said and stepped fully into the cell, making Bay bristle and take a step back. "Like this one." he fumbled the sheath containing a knife off of his belt and held it out to her.

"I don't need it. I'm fine." Bay declined.

"Take it."

"No. You need it yourself."

"Bayanne! Take. It." he said more forcefully and held his hand out towards her even further. "If you're going back out there, ya should have the best you can get. This one's sharper and it's got a bigger blade. Penetrates the brain easier, causes more damage. It ain't too heavy, you can handle it. You're strong enough. Don't worry about me needin' it for myself... I got another one."

Bay stared at the knife in his hand for quite some time. She wanted to be stubborn and decline his help, but the rational part of her brain knew, that a good knife always came in handy. _Maybe he did something to it... So it won't work right and the blade will fall off or something. _A frown formed on her face and she looked up at him suspiciously. "What did you do to it?"

"Wha'?" Merle was confused. "The hell ya mean, Chickadee?"

"Oh come on, don't play dumb. You've always wanted to get rid of me. These days it couldn't be any easier. Just send me out with a knife that you sabotaged or something, so it gives out on me when I need it most..."

"You're crazy! I ain't never wanted to kill ya!" Merle had to admit that he was a little bit surprised that she would think that. He was an asshole, but he wasn't the devil. He was about to give her a piece of his mind, but then he remembered that he had had a hand in killing her baby. Just giving her his knife and thereby telling her to be safe out there would never be enough to mend what he'd ripped to shreds years ago. He pressed his lips together in a grim line in order to keep his mouth shut. He took another step closer, getting right in her personal space. Bay didn't take a step back this time, but instead, she watched him closely with defiance in her eyes. Merle stared right back and pushed the knife into her pants pocket. "Just take it and watch your ass out there." he told her in a low voice before he turned and left the cell.

Bay released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Being around him stressed her out. She was fully aware that someday they would have to settle things between them, but she wasn't ready to yet. Merle brought up a lot of insecurities and fears in her, and she would have to work through those first, before she would be able to face him and have a talk with him. Today was not that day.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**And thank you so much for being patient. Some of you lovely Tumblr-folks know what's going on. I'm really sick right now and it's kicking my ass. Thankfully the fever is gone and I was able to finish the chapter for you today. I'm still in quite some pain, so the next chapter might be delayed again unless the antibiotics work quick like bunnies. I haven't been able to hear, smell or taste anything in three days. It sucks so much for a big foodie like me, lol. But thank you for all the lovely messages I received. It is certainly uplifting.**

**Thank you especially for the wonderful reviews. I loved that some of you picked up on that little bit of karma that came back to bite Merle in the ass. He stole from Bay and he lost his hand for it.**

**Until next time. Much love to all of you.**


	42. Chapter 43

Chapter 42

Since they had gotten a good amount of supplies on their first run, Rick asked Bay, Maggie, Daryl and Glenn to postpone their second trip to the doctor's offices. He thought it was more important to get things up and running, and more secure, at the prison. They all agreed that he was right. The next run could wait another couple of days.

The next morning, instead of gearing up for a trip into town, they would just gear up for chores around the prison. At night, Daryl was inside their cell with Bay, and watched her get changed. She had started to feel more secure and so, at night, she had started changing out of her jeans and into some kind of leggings, or whatever they were called. Daryl had no idea. He just knew that they were tight and didn't leave much to the imagination. He always slept in his clothes and thought it was silly to change into something comfortable, but he let her be. He enjoyed the view after all.

"That ain't your knife..." he frowned when he first noticed the bigger, black leather sheath among her things.

"It's Merle's." Bay replied with an annoyed sigh. She already hated having to say his name.

"Merle's?" Daryl was confused as to why Bay would have it.

"Yes. He gave it to me. Said it was better." Bay explained in a monotonous voice, free of any emotion.

"He did?" Daryl's face lit up as his eyebrows rose with hopefulness. "You talk to him?"

"No. He talked to me."

"Yeah?" Daryl couldn't help but be excited. Without even realizing it his voice turned softer and his eyes grew bigger as hope started to build even more. "He say he's sorry, yet? 'Cause he is."

"Stop." Bay told him tiredly. She knew that tone of voice. She knew what was happening, and it was pissing her off.

"He's gonna make it right, Bay."

"I said stop, Daryl."

"I promise. I'mma make him."

"Daryl, I love you, but you have never been able to make that man do anything. And you know what? If Merle can't say that he's sorry of his own free will, then it doesn't mean shit anyway. Just let it go." she said angrily while she yanked on her leggings.

"Erin was able to forgive us... Pat, too."

"Yeah, so?" Bay was more than annoyed with the conversation already. This was not how she had pictured the night starting out. This was basically her worst fears starting to come true. She had really wanted to believe that things would be different this time, but right now it looked like that wouldn't be the case.

"Just sayin'..." Daryl shrugged and nervously chewed on the inside of his cheek for a moment before he looked up at her carefully. "Maybe we should do that... We're all stuck together... There's gotta be a way to make it work... maybe... jus' needs to be a little forgiveness, is all..."

Bay's mouth literally fell open. She whirled around and gaped at him, not able to believe what she was hearing. Upon seeing her expression Daryl realized that he had said the exact wrong thing. He knew, of course, that it was the wrong thing to say, but deep down he'd had hope that things might get easier from here on out. That they would be able to let go of some things and move forward and bond. He knew that Bay had enough forgiveness inside of her for a whole town, he had counted on that, but that town apparently didn't include Merle.

"Are you kidding me?" She asked in an incredulous whisper. "ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?"

Daryl shouldn't have been surprised, but he still flinched when she started yelling at the top of her lungs. "Look, I ain't sayin'-"

"I know exactly what you are saying, Daryl. Do you even realize what you are doing? Do you realize what's happening here?"

"I ain't under his spell or whatever ya think it is..."

"So you're suddenly suffering from amnesia? Forgot all about what happened because of him? Or have you just turned into an idiot?" Bay was beside herself with anger and disappointment. She would feel bad about calling him an idiot later, but in that moment her anger was ruling over her with an iron fist. "Congratulations on being his lap dog again, Daryl. Because that is exactly what this is. You jump at the chance to stick up for him again and try to clean up his mess."

"Hey! Ain't no need for that."

"No? Seriously?! Are you kidding me?"

"Would ya shut up for a minute? I don't expect ya to forgive him for causing all the shit he has caused. I won't forgive him or myself for being a part of you losing our kid. I... I don't fucking know, Bay..."

"Then what do you want me to do, Daryl? I mean, are you seriously upset at me for not welcoming him with open arms? For not hugging and kissing the shit out of him and let bygones be bygones, just because he gave me his knife? He stole 30,000 dollars from me. He stole you away from me, and you let him. He stole the life I loved living... "

"He did, he knows that and he's sorry for it. In the end, ya still had a good life, Bay. I mean... we gotta be able to let some part of that grudge go, right? Not the thing with our child, but the rest... Maybe... I don't know..." Daryl was at a loss. He didn't even really know what exactly he expected Bay or Merle to do. He knew he was kind of stabbing Bay in the back with what he was saying. That wasn't his intention at all, but somehow the right words just wouldn't come out of his mouth. It was all a big, jumbled mess inside his head, and now he'd really stepped in it.

"Figure it out, then." Bay grabbed her gun and her own knife, leaving Merle's where it was. "Leave me alone until you do. I can't even look at you right now. Good Lord..." she shook her head in disbelief as she left their cell, leaving Daryl to bury his head in his hands, and curse his inability to express what was going on inside of him. He hadn't meant for things to go this wrong at all.

Everybody looked in another direction when Bay emerged and went downstairs, trying not to let it show that they had heard most of their fight. She didn't even care. She walked straight out of the prison and into the yard, needing to cool down. When she returned an hour later, she went into the cell and laid down there, clearly showing Daryl that she had no intention of dealing with him any more that night.

* * *

She kept going with ignoring him the next morning. After getting dressed and having breakfast, she walked right up to Rick who was standing at a table where some of the guys had already gathered. "What's the plan for today?"

"A lotta things." Rick said while he looked at her intently, trying to catch her gaze. Bay eventually let her large hazel eyes travel up to meet his piercing, blue stare. He looked at her with a searching gaze, giving her a slight nod as if to ask "You okay?". Bay nodded back, and Rick put his hand on the back of her neck, squeezing gently to show support before he shared his plan for the day. Daryl had joined them as well by now, but was lingering in the background, keeping his gaze on Bay who looked at the table with great interest.

"Hershel wants to start working the field today. Prep it, so he can plant some things. He could use some help. Any takers?"

"I can do that." Maggie spoke up. "Nothing I haven't helped him with before."

"I can help, too." Glenn offered, and both, Rick and Hershel accepted with a nod.

"Alright. Next up, Carol said with more people we need more kitchen supplies. I need someone to go back to the cafeteria and look for plates, utensils, sauce pans,... the works."

"I'll do that." Bay volunteered. "I know the way and I know what to look for."

Dale stepped up with a smile. "I'll go with. I know you cleared the way, but I guess it can't hurt to have a second pair of eyes and hands."

"Fair enough." Rick agreed. "The rest of us guys, we'll check the fences, get water and look into clearing out the other yard. We also need to gather wood to burn the walkers that are still piling up outside."

"Wouldn't a fire attract more walkers? Maybe we should bury them?" Glenn suggested.

"No. We're behind a fence. I'd rather take that risk instead of planting crops in rotten walker-infested soil." Rick argued.

"Good point." Glenn admitted. Who knew what would happen if they ate those crops.

"If walkers show up, we stab them through the fence if they get to be too many. Now, let's get to it. Ain't enough hours in the day right now. Carl." Rick addressed his son while the rest of the group dispersed. "Here are the keys. You're the man in the house while we others are outside. Look after your mother."

"I will." Carl proudly took the big key-ring from his father, while Lori looked on with a smile on her face. Rick looked back at her, but didn't share her smile. She sighed deeply and watched him leave the cell block with the others. Right now it seemed to her like her and Rick would never find their way back to each other.

* * *

They all went to work. Lori, Beth, Carol and Erin were doing some chores inside the prison with the help of Sophia, Bay and Dale made their way to the cafeteria, and the others got busy outside with their various tasks. Carl and Alex sat at one of the tables and played another card game, but they soon got bored.

"I wish we had other games." Alex lamented while he shuffled the deck of cards.

"Maybe as soon as they start going on runs again, they'll find some." Carl said and looked around. His eyes fell on the door that led deeper into the prison. "You know what we should do? We should help out, too."

"But how?" Alex asked. As far as he could see, there was nothing to do for the boys right now.

"We should back up Bay and Dale. It's just the two of them. They sure need some help." Carl explained with a smile.

"I don't know."

"Come on. It'll be cool."

"I should ask my Mom." the 6-year old was squirming in his seat, not sure that the plan the older boy had come up with would fly with his parents.

"Nonsense. It's okay. They cleared the way, right? And I have my gun. You can have my knife. Come on. Bay and Dale need us. They'll have their hands full. No need to ask. Your mom will be happy you helped. Everybody needs to pull their weight, right?" Carl tried convincing the younger boy.

"I guess."

"Come on, then. Here." Carl handed his knife over to Alex, who had paled considerably, but who didn't want to be a coward in front of the other boy. "You hold the flashlight, too." Carl turned so Alex would be able to pull the flashlight out of his back pocket. Carl then grabbed the keys and led the way over to the door, unlocking it, and walking into the tombs with a swagger. His Dad had told him that he was the man now, and that was exactly what he felt like as he walked slightly ahead of Alex. Having all the keys of the prison on him made him feel powerful and like some kind of big boss, especially in front of "the kid", Alex.

Unfortunately, Carl had never been through this maze of hallways and cells. He had no idea where the cafeteria was. The swagger soon disappeared and the boys slowed down and Carl looked around with a slightly confused expression on his face. He had no idea where they were. They had followed the arrows, but those had stopped appearing eventually, and now he just chose random directions. "Are you sure this is the right way?" Alex' scared voice sounded from behind him. The little boy had an inkling that they might be in trouble now, and all he wanted was to be back in the cell block with his mother.

"I think so..." Carl muttered. "Bay? Dale?" he carefully called out. He pulled out his gun and the boy slowly inched forward.

"I don't think this is right." Alex said, making Carl snap at him.

"Shut up! Dale? Bay? Are you around here?"

They weren't. And they weren't close enough to hear Carl's soft calls. Bay and Dale were busy gathering oversized pots, more bowls and trays and such.

"You know, I couldn't help but overhear you two last night." Dale started the conversation.

Bay actually smirked, because everybody knew just how much Dale had never been able to help himself. Somehow he had his eyes and ears everywhere at once, and always knew what was going on. "I'm sure you're not the only one, Dale."

"It sounded to me like Daryl is very confused."

"He is. I figured he would be if push came to shove."

"Really?" Dale looked at her in surprise. "It didn't sound like you expected what he said."

"That's true. It's hard to explain, Dale. And you don't know the whole story. You didn't live with us back then. I knew he would be confused, but I had a certain amount of faith in him. I didn't expect him to cave after just two or three days already. He promised... he promised it would be different this time. But it's just the same over and over again. Whatever he's feeling right now, he has to sort through that by himself and then he needs to make up his mind about what he wants. This is where I take a step back and try to prepare for the worst."

"I don't think it will come down to the worst, Bay. It's obvious that you are all he cares about. He made the mistake and chose Merle once before. I'd like to think he's smart enough not to do it again."

"With all due respect, Dale... but you don't really know him. I don't know what you are trying to achieve by getting into this... You can't convince me that there isn't the risk of Daryl choosing Merle once more... you don't know him or me or our situation enough to speculate and give an opinion, so I'm asking you really nicely, to please just butt out of this one." Bay loved Dale, so she tried to be as polite about it as possible, but she didn't need anyone's well-meant advice on the matter.

"No offense taken. If that's what you want, I'll shut up. I just thought you'd li-"

"Shhhhh!" Bay reflexively put her hand to his chest and strained her ears. "Did you hear that?" They both listened and soon heard the familiar sound of a gunshot. And another. And another. "Oh my God." Bay muttered and took off with Dale in hot pursuit. She stopped again pretty soon, trying to determine which way to run.

"Where is it coming from?" Dale asked, already out of breath.

"There." Bay pointed towards the right and raised her gun while they went that way in a fast walk. They had no idea what they were walking into. Neither one of them had been in this part of the prison yet, but obviously it hadn't been secured yet. Or was it the guys clearing that part out? But they wouldn't waste the bullets. Only if something would go very, very wrong. Also, she was sure that they wouldn't be done with their chores outside. Not by a long shot. It had only been around half an hour. They kept following the noise until they found the source. What they saw was making their blood run cold. Alex was only a second away from getting bit. Bay quickly shot the walker on top of him, while Dale used his rifle to kill the walkers closest to Carl.

"Carl! Carl!" she yelled at him, while she pulled out Alex from underneath the dead walker. "Take Alex and run! That way! Get your Dad! Go!"

So many walkers. She knew that they wouldn't be able to take them alone. She had no idea why, but Carl had unlocked a door he shouldn't have unlocked. She didn't know what to do. She was running on adrenalin and pure instinct while she tried to shoot and stab as many as possible. A couple of walkers wanted to take off after the boys who were running back towards their cell block. Bay yelled and tried to catch their attention and lure them away. Unfortunately, while they led the walkers away from the boys, the undead now blocked their own safe escape route.

* * *

"Your old lady gave ya trouble 'bout me last night, huh?" Merle, of course, had been able to listen in on their fight as well.

"Shut up, Merle. Ain't none of your damn business." Daryl muttered miserably, while they made their round to check the fence for breaches.

"She's a stubborn little thing, ain't she? I tried, but she wouldn't gimme the time of day."

"I know. Shouldn't be surprised. Too soon, I reckon."

"Maybe." Merle shrugged.

"Did you tell her you were sorry?"

"Not in so many words."

"Christ, man... " Daryl shook his head with a sigh. He wished Merle would make more of an effort, maybe then Bay would see that he really was sorry.

"What? Why should I say it, man? No matter what I say, she ain't never gonna believe me anyway. She thinks I'm the devil. Prolly ain't no coming back from that."

"What's that mean?"

"Nothin'. Just that you ain't never gon' live the dream, baby brother. Ain't gon' be no happy family, the three of us. You'll always be between the chairs. For as long as ya both shall live." Merle said with acceptance in his voice, even though he wasn't quite sure if that would have been something he would have wanted for himself. He clapped his good hand on Daryl's shoulder twice and went ahead a couple of paces.

"So ya just give up? Ain't gonna try no more to do right by her?" Daryl asked while he shielded his eyes against the blinding sunlight.

Before he could get an answer, Carl's yelling up at the prison caught the men's attention. "DAD! DAAAAAD! HELP!"

"What the hell?" Merle muttered and followed Daryl, who had already taken off running up towards the gate.

"Carl! What is it?" Rick was yelling while he was running back towards the gate with some of the other men, after having checked the fence a little further up.

"Bay and Dale! Hurry!" Carl yelled, making Daryl's blood freeze in his veins when he heard it.

_Nonononononononono! No! _It was the only thought as he ran as fast as he could.

"Keys! Daryl! Keys!" Rick shouted towards him. Daryl yanked the keys off the clip on his belt and tossed them at Nick, who tossed them at Pat, who tossed them at Rick. In the meantime Hershel, Glenn and Maggie had already run up to the door of cell block C, trying to find out what was going on and trying to help.

It took too long. That was Daryl's next thought as Rick fumbled around with the keys and had to take several tries in order to unlock the gate. Way too many minutes were passing, when every little second was crucial these days. He felt his heart slamming against his ribcage like never before. Pure and unadulterated fear and panic were making his adrenalin spike to previously unknown levels. He got tunnel vision, the only thing he was able to focus on was to get Bay out of whatever death trap she might have gotten into and get her to safety.

When they finally got inside, they just barely acknowledged Carl sobbing "I'm sorry" over and over again, while Lori held him in her arms. They immediately entered the tombs and went to look for Bay and Dale. Daryl wanted to just charge forward, but Rick held him back, telling him to stay cautious despite what was at stake. To their surprise the cafeteria was untouched. No sign of any struggles. Also no sign of Hershel, Maggie and Glenn, who had entered this maze before them. Daryl looked at the ground, trying to pick up tracks in the dust on the ground. Pat shone his flashlight on the ground, trying to help out his best friend. When Daryl thought he saw something, he wordlessly walked into the other direction.

"You see something?" Rick asked, making Daryl nod.

"I think they came through here... but why? Ain't no sign of walker shuffles. Nothing in the cafeteria neither." For now it remained a mystery, but the sheriff and the hunter both knew they'd get to the bottom of things later.

They pushed forward, until they heard noises around the corner. They paused to raise their weapons, and on Rick's sign, they moved around the corner, only to be met with the tight faces of Hershel, Glenn and Maggie. "Anything?" Rick asked the threesome.

"No. I'm afraid not." Hershel replied with a sad gaze.

"Over there!" Daryl said when he thought he saw something move to the left, and led the way.

"That shouldn't be open." Pat frowned when they came closer and they realized that the door was slightly swinging back and forth. "We locked that yesterday. They open doors now?" he was really confused while he looked at Rick for an explanation.

"Walkers can't." Daryl chimed in before he turned a hard stare on Rick. "But someone with keys can. Like your boy."

Rick straightened visibly and froze. Daryl didn't leave him any other chance to react any more, he immediately got into Rick's personal space and stared him down. "If somethin' happened to Bay... that boy of yours? He better run!"

"Guys." Glenn's voice was a near-whisper. He had shone his flashlight around the corner and into the hallway across from the door, and had spied a handful of walkers, who now became focused on him after having been alerted to his presence by his flashlight.

Daryl lifted his crossbow and quickly took care of one of them, before the others stepped in and took care of the rest. They stepped into the hallway and shone their lights around. Their breaths got caught in their throats at the sight that greeted them. Dale no longer had a face or intestines. The only way to identify him was by his blood-soaked shirt, his pants and shoes, and his rifle, that laid right by his feet. The whole scene was chaotic. So much blood and human remains and so many dead walker bodies.

Hershel closed his eyes and took a deep breath, while he said a quick prayer for his friend. He opened his eyes again when he heard Maggie gasp, his heart sinking, because he knew right away it couldn't be good.

"No!"

Daryl felt bile rising in his throat when he realized what she was looking at. One of Bay's boots laid in a puddle of blood close to Dale's body. And there was her gun, too. Something else caught his eye, and Daryl didn't even realize that he'd fallen to his knees as soon as he had realized what it was: Bay's necklace. The cross necklace he had given her on the farm. He gingerly picked it up, and when Maggie saw it, she broke down. She started wailing, attracting even more walkers further down the hall, but in that moment, nobody really cared. Glenn caught her, before she could fall to the floor, fighting back his own tears.

"D..." Pat didn't know what to say. He had a hard time coming to grips with what was happening.

Daryl felt numb. He felt empty. He stared at the cross in his hand and felt absolutely hollow. Rick started pacing, his own eyes glistening with unshed tears. "Maybe she got out."

"Pfff... look around." Merle scoffed, albeit quietly for his standards. "Lost her shoe, lost her gun, somethin' grabbed her necklace... She's strong,... but all that guts and blood? All those walkers? Ain't no way she wasn't bit."

"Shut up, Merle." Pat reprimanded him. "Just shut the fuck up. Just for once in your goddamn life."

"What's the sense in sugarcoatin' it? Look over there. Ain't no tracks there, just a bunch of shufflin' around. Know what that means? Even if she got out of this little scuffle, them damn biters were all over her." Merle simply wasn't able to shut up. "Lookit here... here they come."

The walkers from down the hall were on them. Glenn moved Maggie out of the way and Hershel followed. He was too distraught to fight. Thankfully there were enough others of them there to help out. Daryl didn't move an inch. While Merle, Rick, Pat and Nick killed the walkers, he remained kneeling in the blood and staring at Bay's necklace, completely unaware (or indifferent) of the chaos surrounding him.

"Rick, I'm taking them back." Glenn told their leader once the walkers were down.

Rick nodded and swallowed hard. "We secure this hall. Lock the door again and go down there, see if more walkers got in. See if we find... anything else..."

Glenn left with Maggie and Hershel, and Rick turned to Pat. "Stay with him." he referred to Daryl. "Merle, Nick and I, we go looking further down the hall."

"Hell nah, he's ma brother. I'll stay with him." Merle protested quickly.

"Yeah, and you're always such a source of comfort and support." Patrick spat at him. "**I'm **staying with him. Go. I got it."

"I'm going." Daryl suddenly got out of his trance and got up from the ground.

"We should head back to the cell block, D. Let them handle this." Pat suggested, but Daryl wouldn't have it.

"No. She's my girl." Daryl said, his voice sounding as hollow as he felt. He clutched the cross in his palm, squeezing his fingers around it tightly, before he pushed it into the pocket of his worn pants. "No discussion. I'm going."

Rick studied him for a moment, not flinching under Daryl's accusatory stare, but eventually he gave a little nod. "Let's go."

The group started moving, but not before Daryl had plunged his knife into the remains of Dale's head. Just in case. Then he locked the door back up with his set of keys. Except for Daryl, the men were familiar with this corridor. They had cleared it out the day before, when Daryl and Glenn had gone out on their run with their girlfriends. They knew there wasn't much to see there. It led to a couple of cells for solitary confinement, and those cells were locked. There were some dead walkers piled up, which they had still to drag out once the group had enough wood for a big fire. Some stray walkers were shuffling around back there, which they took care of with practiced ease. However, there was no Bay. As soon as that fact became crystal clear, the men hung their heads. They all carefully peeked up at Daryl, who stood motionless in the middle. He wouldn't remain motionless for long, though. Suddenly he spurted back into action and dashed back to where they had come from. The others ran after him, but had a hard time catching up. Daryl was fueled by rage and adrenalin and was developing near inhuman speed. He burst back into the cell block, where Glenn had already announced the devastating news. The Greenes were hugging, Maggie and Beth sobbing into their father's chest, while Hershel had silent tears running down his wrinkled and pale face. Carol was cradling Sophia's head to her chest, both of them crying, while Lori, Carl, Erin and Alex mirrored them. Carl and little Alex were hysteric. They knew that this was their fault and they were filled with more guilt than they knew how to handle.

Daryl didn't care. He saw red. He strode up to Lori, grabbed Carl by his shirt and yanked him out of his mother's arms. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO?" Daryl yelled at him with all he had, shaking him hard, letting the young boy feel all of his wrath.

"Daryl, don't! Don't you touch him! Let him go!" Lori was yelling and crying and tugging at Daryl's arms, trying to pry her son out of his grasp.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know! I thought it was the cafeteria!" Carl was sobbing hysterically, barely able to breathe or talk while tears and snot ran down his face.

Before he was able to make the boy feel any worse, stronger hands pulled at him, holding him back. "Get away from him. You don't touch him!" Rick had to use all his strength to push himself between Daryl and Carl, but eventually he managed to push Daryl back with a hard shove. "Stop!"

"Now, don't do something yer gon' regret! Leave the boy alone. He's getting' his punishment, don't chu worry." Merle held the steaming mad Daryl back, before he was able to charge at either Rick or Carl, who'd sought refuge back in his mother's arms.

"It was him!" Daryl spat. "He got 'em killed."

"We don't know what happened yet." Rick tried to calm Daryl down.

"I know exactly what happened. And I'm tellin' ya, either you do something about that boy or I will." Daryl shouted at the leader. "He lost his fucking arm, he got two people killed, how much more's gotta happen until you and your lazy ass bitch of a wife wake up and do something?" The next second Daryl's head snapped to the side and pain exploded in the other side of his face, where Rick had landed a vicious punch.

The two man stood and stared at each other, both their chests heaving, before both of them attacked each other simultaneously. They fell to the floor, rolling around, both of them getting a hit in.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Several of the men shouted at once and tried to separate the two. Merle and Pat held back Daryl, while Nick and Glenn grabbed Rick. They pulled the fighting men apart and made sure to keep a good couple of feet of distance between them.

Daryl violently shook them off, but he didn't try to get back to Rick anymore. "To hell with y'all!" he yelled, his voice this time tear-filled and shaky. He spat a bit of blood on the ground and wiped his bloody nose before he turned around and left the prison. He marched to the fences, using his own set of keys to unlock the gates, until he reached the cut where the whole group had initially entered the premises. He let himself out and tied the cut close with the wire, then he strode off into the woods. He needed to be alone. He couldn't stand seeing the rest of the bunch right now. He didn't really know what he was doing or where he was going, he just kept walking. His mind was a mess. The realization of what had happened didn't quite sink in. He was just angry. All he wanted was to strangle and shake that kid, before he'd do the same to his parents. That's all he was able to think about. It's all his brain was letting him think about. Maybe to protect him from himself, because as soon as he truly, fully realized and accepted that Bay had been killed by walkers, he would be done. He wouldn't be able to live without her this time.

_She died thinking that you chose Merle again... _The thought popped up amidst all his murderous thoughts towards the Grimes family. "No!" Daryl literally shook himself and pushed that thought down and focused back on his hatred while he disappeared deeper and deeper into the woods.

* * *

They carried Dale's remains out of the prison and buried him outside. Pat and Glenn made two markers, one for Dale and one for Bay. Even though there was nothing left of her to bury, she got her small plot right next to Dale. Carol and Sophia had gathered small rocks and as soon as Dale had been buried, they had put them down on the earth in front of the markers, in the shapes of a D and a B. They all agreed to wait with a memorial service until Daryl showed up again, no matter how long that would take.

After Dale had been taken care of, Merle took off to track Daryl. It had been a couple of hours and he figured he'd given his little brother enough time and space to sort through his shit. Also, he feared that Daryl might do something even stupider than trying to shake Officer Friendly's kid to death. He remembered what it had been like when they had first left Dalton. He had been in jail when Daryl had learned about Bay's apparent suicide, so he hadn't been there to witness Daryl's break down then, but he had heard that it hadn't been pretty. He was certain that Daryl would be extremely close to shutting down completely this time.

It took two hours, but Merle found him. Daryl was sitting on the ground, his back leaned against a tree. His left arm laid limply in his lap, while he used his right hand to idly trace the tip of his knife up and down the inside of his left forearm. "Don't even think about it, little brother."

"Go away." Daryl rasped, never taking his eyes off of his arm.

"For what it's worth... It sucks... what happened."

"You just can't say you're sorry, can ya?"

"Ain't ma style, I reckon." Merle shrugged and leaned against a tree close to Daryl.

"So ya never would have said it to her..."

"Don't matter no more."

"Matters to me."

"What now, Daryl? You gonna sit here and grieve and mourn until ya work up the balls to push that blade through your skin? Slice up your arms, make yourself bleed out?"

"Shut up."

"Think that's what Miss Bayanne would want?"

"You have no clue what she wants. She's right. You don't care 'bout nothing but yourself."

"If that's what ya wanna believe... But think about it. She didn't take the easy way out. Ya thought she did, but she didn't. She picked herself back up, made a new life for herself. She started over without you. That's what you gotta do now. Gotta get your act together and keep going."

"What's the point? Ain't nothin' left worth fightin' for."

"You keep talking like that and I kick your teeth in. Dixons ain't quitters. Your girl was no quitter. Offing yourself? That ain't no way to honor her memory, son."

"Stop talking like you knew her. Like she meant something to you." Daryl scoffed.

"I knew her. She was strong. She was a fighter. I respected that."

"Not enough to keep yourself from taking all she had."

Merle didn't reply. Everything he'd had to say on the matter of taking her money had already been said. "We buried the old man. Made up a marker for your girl, too. Put it next to his. They wanna pay their respects, but they ain't gon' do it without you there."

"So?"

"So... would be rude to keep them waiting. Gon' get dark soon. Prolly ain't gon' be able to do it today no more. They need closure or some shit like that, so they can move on. Shouldn't drag it out any longer than tomorrow."

"Can't go back there. I'm gonna kill that kid."

"No, you ain't gonna do that." Merle shook his head. "That kid's gonna be taught a lesson, but not by you and not by me. He's part of two innocent people losing their lives... he ain't gonna forget about that. This time it wasn't him paying the bill... it was them. That'll do shit to him. The little one, too."

"Little one?" Daryl looked up at Merle in confusion, still not used to Alex' presence in the prison.

"Yeah, Erin's kid. Alex. Said that you pal Rick's kid convinced him that they gotta pull their weight. Convinced him to go help out your girl and the old fuck."

"Jesus fucking Christ." Daryl couldn't believe it. Or actually, he could. Carl was a loose cannon and a danger to everyone around him for as long as his parents didn't step up and do something. "Is the boy okay? Alex, I mean?"

"Not really, but who could blame the little fella? Can't stop crying. He's scared that you're gon' get him, too, like you did with the other boy."

"Nah. He didn't do nothin'. It was Carl. It's always Carl." Daryl sighed defeatedly and rubbed his dirty hands through his face.

"Let's get back. We're losin' the light."

It took a bit longer, but when dusk started to settle, Daryl went back to the prison with him. He didn't talk to anybody. He didn't even look at anybody, he just went up to his cell and grabbed his backpack. He remembered that he had taken two pictures of Bay from her room back at the farm, and had stuffed them into his backpack. He dug them out and sat on the mattresses on the ground in the back of the cell. As soon as he looked at the pictures of her being happy and smiling, the tears started. Realization started to sink in and the pain he felt was near unbearable. He had no idea how to get through it this time.

* * *

"How very softly you tiptoed into our world, almost silently, only a moment you stayed. But what an imprint your footsteps have left upon our hearts. There is no death. You will only die when we forget about you, which we never will. An Eskimo legend says, that maybe the stars are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy. From now on, every time we look up and see the stars, we shall know that it is you, our friends and family, showing us that you are with us, showering us with your love and show us that you are happy. Rest in peace Dale and Bayanne. You have fought a good fight, You have finished your course, you have kept the faith." Hershel closed his notebook in which he had written down quotes about life and death he had remembered, and had formed them into his eulogy. He knew that it probably spoke more to Bay than to Dale, but he hoped his former companion would forgive him for that. He had lost a daughter. Maybe not a biological one, but nonetheless a **real **one. He wiped at his tears after giving his speech. He slowly went over to Daryl, wanting to offer the stoic man comfort, but Daryl abruptly turned around and headed for the fence again. He couldn't be around these people right now. He just couldn't. He wouldn't leave the prison forever, but right now he needed some space. He stayed out in the woods all day, only coming back when it got dark again and immediately going to his cell, ignoring all the concerned looks and people calling out for him. He didn't have it in him to deal with them. He didn't want to talk, especially not about Bay.

Two days after the whole fiasco Daryl left again at first light, ignoring Rick's attempts at talking to him when he passed the former sheriff. Rick went after him, but only out to the yard from where he watched Daryl go back to the fence and slip out through the cut and disappear into the woods. Rick sighed deeply. He felt awful. He had given Carl the keys. He would never make that mistake again. He'd thought that after getting bit, Carl would have developed a better understanding for this new world, but obviously that hadn't been the case. The worst thing was, that there was no way to ever make this right. This was the ultimate disaster.

Rick went back inside to grab his axe. Yesterday after the service, the group had finally gathered enough wood for a big fire, but they hadn't burnt the walkers yet. He decided to go back into the tombs and drag out the walker bodies that were still piling up there. Before he could get there, he saw Lori waiting for him.

"We have to talk." she pleaded with him. He hadn't talked to her about what had happened yet.

"What's there to talk about? Our son is responsible for the death of two of our own. We can't take that back, no matter how much we talk about it."

"What are we going to do? Where do we go from here?"

"We can't leave him out of our sight anymore. He doesn't understand this world. He doesn't understand how dangerous it really is. Until he does, he can't be left in charge of himself anymore. We have to watch him 24/7. Wherever you go, he goes."

"Me? Why not you?"

"Are you serious?" Rick narrowed his eyes at her. "I have things to do Lori. I have to make sure that things don't fall apart around here. We need to make this a home, and there aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. I'm not saying that this is forever, but for the time being, he's gotta stick with you most of the time. In here. Let him read to you or whatever. Pick up teaching the kids again. Can't hurt. Think of something. I gotta take care of the bodies. Don't send anyone to help. I'm gonna do this on my own." And with that, Rick left her standing there and went to work.

* * *

After dragging about 8 bodies out of the back, where the cells for solitary confinement were located, Rick went back there and sagged against the wall. He wiped at the sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand and took a moment to catch his breath. He pushed his hand into his pant pocket and pulled out the thin necklace with the big silver cross on it. He cradled it in his palm and looked at it for a moment, pondering if he should put it around her marker or give it to Daryl. "I'm sorry." he said quietly. "I'm sorry I didn't listen sooner."

Taking another breath, he pushed the necklace back into his pocket and went back to work. He went to the last door on the left, where two walkers were laying on top of each other. He grabbed the one on top and dragged him off of the walker on the bottom. The dead corpse flopped on its back, and just when Rick crouched down to grab the ankles, he noticed the hilt of a knife sticking out from behind the walker's chin. Rick scooted up the body and pulled on the knife with a quick yank. His eyes narrowed when he inspected it, his mind trying to make sense of the discovery. It was Bay's knife.

Rick straightened and looked around. There was blood, but not enough blood to indicate that she had been eaten back here. There also hadn't been a walker that had looked like her. But where was she? There was no way out and Merle had checked the doors before, saying they were all locked. But had Merle actually checked? He hadn't been too keen on doing any dirty work for Officer Friendly. Rick's lips pressed into a thin, hard line and he started yanking on one of the doors. The first one was locked, but the second one wasn't. Merle hadn't really checked. Thankfully no walkers were in there. Rick turned around and looked back at the door where the walker with Bay's knife had been laying. The walker on the bottom was directly in front of it, but its legs were angled a little. A small person might have been able to squeeze through the gap if the door was unlocked as well.

Rick's heart started beating faster. Bay might have squeezed her way into the cell and could have stabbed the walker in the last minute. The way it had been laying on top of the other walker would back up that theory. But what if she was really in there? Was she bit? Was she a walker? _But a walker would have pushed against that door by now... Only one way to find out._

He grabbed hold of the walker and yanked it away from the door. He put one hand on the door handle, his other hand held Bay's knife, ready to strike. Two more deep breaths, then he yanked the door open, prepared for everything. Nothing came for him and he squinted into the darkness. His gaze dropped to the ground, and he let out a little sound when he saw Bay sitting on the ground, slumped against the wall.

"Bay..." Rick carefully knelt down by her side. He pushed some hair out of her face and stroked his thumb over her cheek. "Bay?" Suddenly her walker eyes snapped open and with a growl she attacked faster than Rick could have anticipated. The knife clattered to the ground as she lunged at him and dug her teeth into his face, making Rick yell out in shock and pain..

Daryl shot up with a gasp. He was panting and he was drenched in sweat. His heart felt like it was slamming out of his ribcage as panic and fear coursed through his body. He looked around in confusion and almost sobbed with relief when he saw Bay still sleeping peacefully on the mattress inside their cell. _Just a dream... Just a damn nightmare. She's alive. Jesus fucking Christ, what in the fucking hell was that? _He had never ever dreamed this vividly before and he never ever wanted a repeat performance of that kind of hell. He had no idea where all those things had come from, especially the things Hershel had said in his dream during the service. It must have been pieces of things he'd picked up at school and on TV over the years.

He wiped the sweat off his face, using his old red rag, before he crawled into the cell on all fours and cradled Bay's sleeping face in his hands. "Bay, wake up. Wake up, sweetheart." he was still out of breath, and when she opened her sleepy, but completely normal-looking hazel eyes, a lot of fear and anxiety left his body in a harsh exhale. "Thank fucking God!" he kissed her hard, several times.

"What are you doing?" Bay pulled away and looked at him with a frown. Where she was concerned, they were still fighting.

"I'm sorry, alright? I didn't mean what I said. Not like that. I promised ya things are gonna be different this time, and they're gon' be. They have to be. If I didn't know before, I definitely know now." he breathed. That nightmare had reminded him of how quickly things could happen. He would never want her to die thinking that Merle was more important to him than she was. He didn't want her to believe that for even a second. He knew he had to change. He couldn't stick up for Merle anymore. Merle would have to fight his own battles. Bay meant too much to him to lose her ever again. The nightmare had definitely been one hell of a wake-up call.

"What? What are you talking about? What's going on?" She finally noticed how shaken he was and it confused and worried her to no end. "Baby, are you okay?"

"I will be. As long as we're okay. Forget what I said yesterday, alright? I was being an idiot. I ain't gon' be his lap dog. Never again. You can be damn sure of that."

"What happened? You look spooked."

"Had a nightmare. It made me realize some things. Or more like it reminded me of some things. Can we forget about yesterday? I ain't expecting you to forgive him. Whatever you do is up to you and I'll have your back. Promise." he seemed downright desperate and it tugged at her heartstrings.

"I'm sorry I was so harsh to you. I didn't mean to call you names. He's already doing it. He's already getting between us."

"We ain't gon' let him. This was the last time." Daryl rasped before he kissed her deeply. This time, he was absolutely sure that he could do it. He had to become his own person and not let Merle get under his skin. They also had to get Rick and Lori to watch their son better. They were already slacking off on that again, feeling too secure in here. "I need ya, girl. Ain't much for beggin', but I'm gonna, if ya say no now. That dream scared the fuck outta me."

She let out a little laugh. She had never seen him like this and she wondered what exactly that dream had been about. She was sure she would find out later, but for now she was on board with some make up sex. "Condom's in our bag of toiletries."

"Hang the poncho." he told her before he got up to get the rubber. Right now he couldn't care less about the rest of the prison knowing what they were doing. They were all in the process of waking up and would start getting ready for their day soon. They had to do this first. Seeing her as a walker in his dream had been too much of a shock. He needed to feel her surrounding him, alive and well and moaning his name into his ear while she clawed at his back.

* * *

**Sooo, this was a bit different, wasn't it? Blame it on the meds. I hope it wasn't too confusing. Just to clarify, from the morning after their fight, up to Daryl waking up, it was all just his nightmare. Initially I wanted to let it happen for real and have Rick find Bay alive in the tombs, just like Daryl found Carol on the show, but I didn't think it was "twisty" enough for my usual style. It would only have been a repitition of events of how Daryl lost Bay for the third time only to get her back after all. So I turned it into a dream and thought this would serve as the intense kind of wake up call Daryl needed to be reminded of what choosing and defending Merle could mean for them. Life is too short to stick up for someone, who can't even bring himself to say he's sorry. I'm sure Merle will get there someday, but it might take some more time.**

**Sorry if this was not to your liking and/or if it was too trippy/confusing. **

**Thank you again for all the well wishes. I am not in a ton of pain anymore. It is thankfully down to a level where painkillers are working again. My ear is still being a bit fickle. Sometimes I can hear again, sometimes I can't, but I hope it will all be back to normal soon. It has been the worst week, having all that crap and having to take care of my little one, who has developed a very strong-willed personality, lol. He got his wish more often than he should have this week, but you gotta pick your battles, right?!**

**Happy Walking Dead Sunday!**

**And special thanks to the wonderful reviewers:**

**DarylDixon'sLover**

**Leyshla Gisel**

**cemmia**

**An Amber Pen**

**ElsaEditorial**

**wabi-sabi1090**

**EastDenise**

**snowbird**

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**lewis7**

**MamaBrew**

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**redangel2463**


	43. Chapter 44

_Daryl stretched and released a content little moan. He smiled with closed eyes, when he heard Bay giggling right next to him._

"_I swear, sometimes you are just like a cat." she said smilingly when she watched his buck naked body stretched out on the sofa bed, exactly in the spot where the sun shone in through the window, hitting him full force. _

"_Ya like cats, don't ya?"_

"_Yep. They are so feeeeeral." Bay giggled, making a little fun of him again for always pronouncing feral differently. "Oooow!" she jumped, when Daryl pinched her butt._

"_That's what bein' mouthy gets ya."_

"_Meanie." she laughed and poked his ribs. _

"_Look who's talking." he grinned and turned his head to the side so that he would be able to kiss her. Bay sighed against his lips and snuggled closer to him, because she was laying in the shade and was actually getting a bit cold. Daryl put his arm around her and pulled her closer, only too gladly playing radiator for her. "Better?"_

"_Mhm." she nodded and rested her cheek against his chest, while her fingertips gently played along his treasure trail. She looked at his flaccid penis, thinking that it was a rare sight to see it in this state. Daryl was a healthy, red-blooded, 20 year old male with a willing girlfriend; pretty much every time they were naked, his thingy stood up stiff and proud, like the tip and his belly button were magnets and kept gravitating towards one another._

_Her hand slid lower, brushing her fingertips through his coarse pubic hair. She grinned silently when she felt him inhale deeply, but for now, she had no intention on getting her hand on his cock. She got comfortable and played with his bush, swirling her fingers around, gently tugging at the hair and scratching at the skin right at the base of his cock. By now, he was no longer flaccid and Bay's knuckles kept brushing against his hard length._

_She heard some rumbling in his chest, which made her giggle again. She had him purring like a cat now, too. "Can we stay like this forever? I never want to leave this bed again." she murmured quietly, while Daryl softly tickled her bare shoulder with his fingertips. _

"_Only 'til Monday and we gotta go to work. Maybe we oughta start playin' the lottery, so we can win and get waiters and cooks and shit and only have to leave the bed when we gotta do bathroom stuff."_

"_That sounds like heaven right now."_

"_Don't it? But shit, I'd miss yer cookin', baby girl. Would ya still cook for me if we were filthy rich?"_

"_Of course I would. Anything for you, Daryl. Anything... You know, I always used to think that it was cheesy when someone said that all they wanted was for their partners to be happy? But now I'd literally do anything to make you happy."_

"_Yeah... same for me, Bay. Gonna marry ya one day, ya know?" he said, and Bay released a little laugh, because he had said it like she didn't have a say in it. Like it was a done deal already. "Every day, Imma try ma best to be a good husband... give ya everythin'..."_

"_I love you." She didn't say it often, because the words didn't come easy to her after having lost everyone she had loved, but when he was so sweet and genuine, she just had to let him know and tell him out loud. _

"_Love ya, baby girl." he shifted and rolled on top of her, covering her with his body completely, while he kissed her sweetly. "Forever."_

Daryl didn't know why he was remembering that particular Saturday afternoon right now. Maybe because he had felt especially warm and content that day. Maybe because he desperately wanted to take Bay and go back there right the fuck now. He desperately wanted to feel like that again. That stupid dream had shaken him to the core, and he was anxious as hell, which made him want to crawl out of his own skin. He knew from experience what losing her felt like, he'd felt it again in that dream, and now he was scared that it would really happen again. That he would have to go through that horrific pain once more. Even though they lived in constant danger, sometimes, when there had been a couple of good days in a row, it was ridiculously easy to forget, how fast people died in this world. One scratch was all it took. He wouldn't be able to take it. Not again.

"Jesus, Daryl. What exactly did happen in that nightmare you had?" Bay had tried to push Daryl off of her for the third time, but he still wouldn't budge. Instead he kept himself on top and wrapped around her, kissing her skin wherever he was able to reach. It had been almost half an hour, since he'd cum inside of her, after taking her ferociously, giving it to her good, because he hadn't been able to get enough of hearing her and feeling her alive and squirming underneath him.

"You died." he mumbled against her skin while he shuddered. "Got stuck in 'em tombs with Dale. Rick found ya, and ya fucking ate his face. Dreamed the whole damn thing; The boy getting' cocky and followin' you and Dale, unlocking a room full of walkers... lookin' for ya, not bein' able to find ya, your funeral,... Rick findin' ya and you bitin' him... Was too damn real..."

"That **is **creepy." she crawled her fingers through his hair and sighed. "But as much as I enjoy this, we have to get down there. Can't stay in bed while everybody else is working to secure this thing and make it our new home."

"I know, but promise me that ya ain't gon' leave my side today."

Bay kissed him gently, trying to soothe his still frazzled nerves, but she realized that it was a lesson in futility today. "We have work to do, baby. I understand you are worried, but you don't have to look after me like a child."

"That ain't what this is about, Bay, and ya know it. Just for today. Okay? Shit,... please, baby girl. That fucking nightmare was hell. Just stay where I can see ya today."

"Okay. I will, but now we really have to get going."

Daryl reluctantly rolled off of her and let her get dressed, while he pulled his pants up and shrugged on his sleeveless shirt. They kissed one last time, before they left their cell and went downstairs to the commons, where everyone was still gathered for breakfast. They were both grabbing themselves a bowl of oatmeal, which Carol had cooked up, when Rick approached them. "A word..." he motioned towards the door that led outside, not giving them the chance to sit down. Rick led the way outside and once the door was closed, the former cop sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look... I don't wanna get on your case about this,... I know that we all can get carried away sometimes, especially when we make up after a fight, but if you could be a little more discreet in the future. Especially when the kids are awake... Erin and Pat had to deal with some interesting questions earlier..."

Daryl blushed furiously, and he quickly lowered his head, while Bay cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Oh, uuummm... I'm sorry, Rick." she was blushing as well, but she was way less embarrassed than Daryl was. "It won't happen again, I promise. We are already looking into finding a more secluded, but safe spot for the couples among us, so the kids won't have to witness anything."

"Good." Rick was satisfied by that. "Until then, just keep quiet or keep from doing it altogether, I don't care, just... Keep it down. I hate doing this, especially after everything you're doing for the group and for Lori right now, getting all those things we'll need for the birth and for taking care of her until then-"

"It's okay, Rick. We understand perfectly. Usually we're more mindful of these things, but like you said... after the fight we got carried away. And we're sorry. We'll apologize to Pat and Erin as well, don't worry." Bay quickly reassured him.

"Alright." Rick gave them another nod, before he headed back inside. Daryl and Bay stayed behind for a moment, and Bay laughed a little, when Daryl covered his eyes with his hand in embarrassment.

"Fuck."

"He'll live. And so will we. I don't think Pat and Erin will be mad at all." Bay laughed.

"Prolly not. Still fucking embarrassing as shit."

"I know. Just more motivation for us to find some of the offices around here and secure them and the way leading to them."

"Yeah. Gonna keep our eyes open for them today." Daryl agreed.

"We will, yeah. Now let's get back inside. I'm hungry." Bay said as she turned back towards the door and opened it.

They went back inside and got their breakfast bowls, then they sat down at the table, where Pat and Erin were holding hands and talking quietly. As soon as Daryl and Bay arrived, they perked up, though. "Well, hello... Didn't hear you come in, Mr. and Mrs. Morning Make Up Sex." Pat grinned cheekily, making Daryl blush once more.

"Shut the hell up, man." he grumbled before he quickly stuffed his mouth with the stale oatmeal.

"Take your own advice." Pat shot back with a laugh. "Never wanted to hear **your **caveman sex noises."

Erin slapped Pat's arm. "Leave him alone, babe. You don't sound any different." She giggled and stuck her tongue out at him.

"Better put that tongue back in your mouth or Imma bite it."

"Promises, promises." Erin sighed with a smile and winked at her boyfriend.

Bay cleared her throat and smiled apologetically. "Well, we're sorry that Alex heard us and apparently had questions?"

"He was concerned for you." Erin explained. "He thought Daryl was slapping and hurting you."

"Oh good God... what did you say?" Bay was afraid that maybe Alex would get scared of Daryl now. She didn't want that to happen at all. She was sure that Daryl would seriously take that to heart.

Pat shrugged. "We told him that Daryl wasn't hurting you at all. That y'all were playing a game for grown ups, which he was still too young to understand and that it included a lot of high five's. Oh and that he didn't have to worry about anything, of course."

"High five's?" Bay laughed incredulously.

"Yeah, I know." Pat smirked. "Had to think fast and it was the only thing I came up with that explained the slapping."

"Jesus..." Daryl groaned quietly into his bowl.

"Should have told him the truth, maybe." Pat mused out loud. "If Carl knows 'bout sex, he's gonna tell Alex all about what you guys did anyway, with lots of bullshit mixed in, I'm sure."

"Pat! Alex is too young to hear about sex from us." Erin said with a frown. Having her baby know all about sex at age 6 was not something she was okay with.

"Oh, so you'd rather have Carl fill his head with all kinds of bullshit about sex, instead of having us tell him the actual facts?" Pat raised his eyebrow at his girlfriend.

"Stop. He's too young, end of discussion. Carl was, what? 10 years old when the outbreak hit? He probably has no idea what he heard, either." Erin argued, before Bay interrupted what seemed to be leading to a heated discussion between the couple.

"We have to make sure that the kids don't hear anything again. We were thinking that there have to be some offices around here, with a door you can close and actually lock, you know? We want to try to find them, so we all have a spot to go to, when we want to... give each other high five's." Bay laughed.

"I'd like to see what you would have come up with... once you would have been done blushing, of course." Pat joked with a wink.

"I don't know. Maybe that we played the adult version of 'If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands?' Thank God I won't ever have to have **that **talk." She was smiling, but Daryl, Erin and Pat weren't, because they collectively remembered the miscarriage. Bay soon noticed and was tempted to roll her eyes, but then she chose to ignore the sad looks. "Anyway, let's see what Rick wants to get done today." And with that, she got up and left the table.

"Do you guys talk about it?" Erin wanted to know from Daryl.

"Nah. Not really." Daryl shook his head. "She gets all huffy when I bring it up. Says it's been too long ago to still be talking about it and that it was better that it died."

"That's crazy talk." Erin frowned. "And even if it happened a decade ago, you found out just now and need a chance to work through it with her. She might have lost the baby years ago, but you lost it only recently."

Daryl shrugged. "Ain't nothin' gonna bring it back, so..." he didn't know what to say, so he got up as well and followed Bay, leaving Pat and Erin to themselves.

"He's hurting over it." Erin murmured with sadness in her voice. "It's in his eyes."

"It's between them, babe." Pat kissed her temple gently. "Stay out of it. Nothin' good ever comes out of meddlin' with those things." Then he got up and followed Bay and Daryl, to go find Rick and ask what the plan was for today.

* * *

Daryl was torn and needed a couple of minutes to think. Rick wanted to keep working on securing the tombs and the fences and all that stuff, but now that they had enough "man"-power, he didn't want the women (namely Maggie and Bay) to go back into the tombs. He wanted to keep them as safe as possible, which was why he had asked both women to help out Hershel as he prepared the ground for farming. After all, they had both helped him out on the farm for years. They were a team and Rick thought that it was the task best suited for the Greenes. Daryl was inclined to agree, if the whole thing wouldn't keep him away from Bay for pretty much the rest of the day. He still felt jittery and leaving her alone hadn't been the plan at all for today.

"Maybe I should stay back, too. Help the old man out. The faster we can start plantin' shit, the better." Daryl told Rick, lowering his gaze repeatedly while he talked to the group leader, because he felt unsure of himself.

Rick frowned and turned fully towards Daryl, lowering his head and trying to catch the hunter's gaze. "I need you." he told Daryl in his imploring manner. "I need my best man on this."

Daryl almost blushed at the unexpected compliment, but his current predicament kept him from doing so. "Ya did it without me before. When we went to raid the doctors offices..."

"But today you're here." he stared at Daryl for a moment, before he motioned for Daryl to walk with him. "What's going on, Daryl? No doubt that this is about Bay, but why?"

"Just wanna make sure she's safe." Daryl tried to be casual about it, but Rick wasn't stupid. He knew that something was different than usual.

"She can handle herself, Daryl. You know that. You taught her. Hershel, Dale and Glenn are going to be here, too. She'll be alright. You trusted that before, why not now?" When Daryl didn't reply, Rick kept going. "She's safer out here than she is in there. Fences are closed, perimeter is secure, but we never know what's waiting in there. And we need to push forward, we need to explore this whole thing and make it safe. That's something every single one of us will profit from. I need you, Daryl. Let them do their thing and we do ours. So, we gonna do this?"

Daryl looked at the ground while he chewed on the inside of his bottom lip, pondering what do to now. Rick grew impatient and started shifting his weight, while he put his right hand on his Python, which was resting in its holster. Eventually Daryl nodded. "Yeah. Let's do it. Just gimme a minute to tell her."

"Don't take too long." Rick said and went back to the others.

* * *

"We need to find some of these big plastic barrels." Bay was standing between Maggie and Hershel as they looked out over the field and planned their first steps. "Store some water and gather some when it rains. Schlepping a hundred buckets of water in through the fences every day is not gonna work for long. Too tedious. Especially when we planted all the crops. We need to get a system working."

Hershel nodded his agreement. "I will take another look around, see how we might make it work. I'll make a plan and a list of the parts we will be needing. It's a good thing that you and Daryl are from around here. He might know where to find certain parts."

Maggie smiled. "Speaking of the devil."

"Bay." Daryl called out for her when he was close enough.

"I'll be right back." She told Hershel and Maggie, and took a couple of steps towards Daryl. "Hey."

"Gonna go with Rick."

"Yeah, I figured."

"Don't like it." he sighed while he squinted and looked around, checking the situation at the fences with a quick glance.

"Daryl... I know it was a really bad dream, but that's all it was... just a dream. Do we live in a dangerous and screwed up world? Yes, most certainly, but we're as careful as we possibly can be. That's all we can do. You can't watch me 24/7 like a child. We have jobs to do, so it's simply not possible for us to be together the whole time. I'll be fine. Trust me like I trust you to be safe and come back to me in one piece."

Daryl nodded lightly and put his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her to him for a long, hard kiss. "I trust ya, Bay, but things happen fast. Be safe, alright?"

"You, too. I love you."

"Love you." he kissed her again. And again. Then he looked at her for a moment longer, looking like he was changing his mind about helping Rick after all, but then finally, he released her and quickly turned around and walked away.

Bay hadn't told him and she had tried not to let it show, but she was worried about him as well. The tombs were unpredictable. All these dark hallways where walkers could still be hidden. It was a deathtrap until they would be able to fully secure it, but in order to secure it, the men had to risk their lives going in there. Erin was a nervous mess as well. Bay watched her literally biting her nails after she had kissed Pat goodbye. It was the same for all the women. Their kiss goodbye could be the proverbial last kiss. They tried not to think about it, but it was still there, nagging every single member of the group in the far corners of their minds. At least they all had tasks to do, which would distract them for a while. _Thank God for small favors, _Bay thought as she rubbed her cross between her thumb and index finger, before she re-joined Maggie and Hershel for more planning. Getting things up and running was just as important to their survival as securing the rest of the prison was. She only hoped that the risks they were taking, wouldn't all be in vain again.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**


	44. Chapter 45

Bay was pacing in the commons. "They should have been back by now." she said under her breath while her gaze flicked up to the windows, looking the red and orange tinged skies as the sun started to set. "Five minutes, then we go after them."

"We don't know where they might be, Bayanne." Hershel tried to calm her down. "You said it yourself, it's a labyrinth. You weren't with them, you don't know which of the arrows they sprayed on the walls are fresh and which ones are the older ones."

"I know you're right, Hershel, I know that, but we can't just sit here and wait. And for how long? Until morning? 6 more hours after that? 8? 12? How long until we do something?"

"I know you're right, too, Bayanne, but let's give them a little longer. Daryl and Rick are good. They are cautious and they know what they are doing. They will be back."

"What if they got trapped?" Bay kept arguing.

"Then they might be safe in there until the walkers wander off. I know you worry about Daryl, but we have to stay calm and keep a clear head. We give them more time." Hershel stated with finality. "Now, sit down and eat. It's no use to make everyone more worried than they already are."

Bay was tempted to yank the keys off of Glenn's belt and go after the men, but in the end she knew that Hershel had a point. She sat down at a table next to Carol and Sophia and used her spoon to push her baked beans around in her bowl. Her stomach was closed up tight. She wouldn't be able to eat before Daryl wasn't back alive and well.

Sophia slowly reached out and carefully touched her fingertips to Bay's brunette locks. "Your hair is so long now. I wish I had your hair."

Bay smiled gently at the young girl. "I know how you feel. When I was younger, I always wished I had completely straight hair. I used to look at my girlfriend Jessa and she had that perfectly long, straight, red hair. It was like a beautiful, glossy, red waterfall. I was so jealous of that. Or Erin with her pretty blonde hair. They looked so perfect and I was in the middle with my boring, messy 'can't-decide-if-it's-curly-or-straight'-hair."

"I like your hair." Sophia said, before she started grinning. "And Daryl likes your hair, too, because he fell in love with you and not the others."

Bay laughed a little at that. "That might be right, yeah."

"Can I braid it? Please?" Sophia's wide eyes eagerly stared up at her with a hopeful and pleading expression in them.

"Sure you can. Want to get a brush first?"

"Yes. And a rubber band." Sophia quickly ran towards the cell she shared with her mother.

"Thank you." Carol smiled at Bay. "She loves doing hair. Always has, but she didn't get the opportunity very often, what with mine being too short to do anything with it."

Bay was about to reply when she suddenly realized something. They've known each other for probably six or seven months now and Carol's hair was pretty much the same length as the day the group had arrived on the farm. She frowned and looked at Carol's hair. "It didn't grow..."

"No, only to a certain length. I saw someone about that years ago. They said that it has something to do with everyone having different hair growth cycles. My cycle's pretty short, which makes them fall out quicker and never grow beyond a certain length. That's why. I accepted it years ago. It is what it is."

"It suits you, though. I can't even imagine you with long hair." Bay smiled as she tried to picture Carol with long, luscious locks. In her head, that picture looked ridiculous. Carol was pretty just the way she was. Sophia came back and made Bay straddle the bench, with her back facing the young girl. She carefully brushed through the tangles and knots, during which Bay tried not to wince too often, so Sophia wouldn't feel bad for hurting her. Once she got to braiding, Bay felt herself relaxing. Having her hair played with always had that effect on her. She closed her eyes and focused on that, letting herself be lulled into a sleepy state, because Sophia took her sweet time in order to make sure the braid would turn out perfect.

"HERSHEEEL!"

The second Sophia had finished securing the braid with a rubber band, male shouts echoed through the walls of the prison, making everyone shoot up straight.

_Please not Daryl, please not Daryl, please not Daryl..., _Bay chanted inside her head while she took off in the direction the shouts were coming from. To their slight confusion, they didn't come from the entrance to the tombs, but from the hall that led to cell block D. Glenn had Rick's set of keys and quickly unlocked the door, in case the group of men was being chased by walkers and needed to get to safety as quickly as possible. All of them held their breaths, as the men stumbled into sight. All of them dirty and bloody, while Rick and Patrick were dragging along an even bloodier figure between them.

"Daryl..." Bay gasped as terror flooded her system, but it was quickly replaced by relief, when Daryl came into view, bringing up the rear.

"It's Nick." Pat's voice was strained as they fought to keep their injured man upright.

"Put him in this cell right here." Hershel commanded. "What happened?"

"Walker crashed into him, he fell from the landing, bashed his head open while we cleaned out the other cellblock." Rick replied with a grunt on their way over to the cell.

Daryl closed and locked the door, a surprised "uuffff" escaping him, when he turned around and Bay rushed him and hugged the hell out of him. "I'm alright, baby girl. Ain't got a scratch on me. Promise."

"What took you guys so long?"

"Bayanne, I need you." Hershel called out for her before Daryl had the chance to answer. Bay quickly kissed her boyfriend, then she followed the trail of Nick's blood and entered the cell to help Hershel. "Give us some room." he kicked everybody else out, because they needed the space to work. Nick was still bleeding profusely from his large head wound. The concrete floor, which had broken his fall, had been unforgiving.

"Weak pulse." Bay muttered while she quickly unbuttoned Nick's shirt, in order to check for more injuries. "Oh shit. That can't be good... Hershel?"

Nick's torso was bruised and his belly distended. Hershel quickly prodded the area with his finger. A moment later he straightened with a grim expression on his face. "He's bleeding out internally. Maybe he ruptured his spleen in the fall, maybe something else."

"Okay, what do we do? We gotta be quick, I can barely hear his heartbeat." Bay urged her mentor.

"There's nothing we can do. We don't have the tools for exploratory surgery. We don't have enough medication..."

"We can get more. We can go out tomorrow and get more. We can get all kinds of machines and stuff. We have breathing tubes and all those things."

"We don't have power, the machines would be useless. It's not enough, Bay, and it would be too late. We are not prepared for this. He might have injured his spine as well, judging by the way his legs were dragging along the floor."

"He's unconscious, Hershel, of course they dragged along the floor." Bay's tone was urgent and desperate. She couldn't believe Hershel was just standing there. "Hershel! Come on."

"There's nothing we can do, Bay. This isn't the farm. We don't have generators and lights or a respirator. The way his skull is cracked open, he might have brain damage, too." Hershel started raising his voice at her. "You think I want to let him die? Do you think that's who I am? You want me to cut him open and remove his spleen? **If **that's what's gotten hurt in there."

"Why not? It might give him a fighting chance!"

"For how long? Without a spleen his body is unable to fight off any bacteria. He might have to take antibiotics every day for the rest of his life."

"So? We get more! We raid every gynecologist in a hundred mile radius. Just fucking do something, Hershel!" Bay yelled at him as tears started to pool in her eyes. The more time they spent shouting, the more of Nick's chances of surviving this, they were wasting.

Outside the cell Lori was imploring Rick with her wide brown eyes and an urgent whisper. "Do something. You make the decisions. We can't just stand by and let him die."

Rick took a step back and put his hands on his hips while he took a moment to think.

"Pat." Erin looked at her man with pleading eyes. "It's Nick. He's one of us. We have to help him."

Pat nodded and walked towards the cell. "Do something. We'll get more meds. We'll get what you need."

Hershel sighed. "It will be too late."

"We have to try." Pat countered.

"No." Rick had come to a decision.

"What do you mean no?" Pat whirled around and looked at Rick with an incredulous expression, just like the rest of the group, except for Merle and Daryl.

"We can't waste the little resources we have on a dying man." Rick stated calmly.

"That ain't your decision to make. You ain't no God." Pat advanced on the former sheriff.

"Neither are you. And it **is** my decision to make." Rick stood his ground, not intimidated at all when Pat started to invade his personal space.

"Oh yeah? Ya wanna play that game right now? You ain't the boss of me, man. I didn't put you in charge. That's my man in there, known him half my life and we are gonna do everything to save him."

"You heard what Hershel said. He's bleeding out. He might have a lot of other shit going on. We ain't got the means to care for him if that happens."

"**If **that happens. We don't know that it would. He's one of us. We save him. I don't care if I have to go through you for him to live." Pat snarled as he and Rick stared each other down, icy blue gaze to icy blue gaze.

"Be reasonable." Rick told him. "The math is simple."

"The math? The fucking math?! Can you even hear yourself right now?" Pat started shouting in agitation, while Rick looked almost amused and still as cool as a cucumber.

"I can hear myself just fine. In know what I'm doing. You gotta keep a clear he-"

"HEY!" Bay suddenly yelled loudly, making even the Dixons jump. She tossed the stethoscope on the unoccupied bed and walked out of the cell. "You can stop arguing. He's gone. Good job everyone." Without another word she walked up the stairs to the cell she shared with Daryl, who quickly followed her, as an eerie silence descended upon the cell block. Lori stared at Rick like he was a stranger, before she retreated to her own cell, a little dazed by what had just happened.

Hershel grabbed a clean sheet and covered Nick's body, before he left the cell as well with his head hung low as the ugly truth sank in.

The prison had claimed its first victim. And it surely wouldn't be the last.

* * *

She wasn't even able to cry. Disbelief filled every fiber of her being. "We could have at least tried. Is this how life is going to be from now on? Are our lives no longer worth fighting for, if it means wasting some resources?"

"He died pretty quick, Bay. Looks like Rick had a point." Daryl replied quietly, while he sat next to her on the floor at the back of their cell.

"Really? So, if I fall down the stairs tomorrow and break my leg, you're okay with having Rick shoot me in the head, like an injured horse? Putting me out of my misery?"

"That ain't the same, Bay."

"Isn't it?"

"What if he would've turned into a damn vegetable. Ain't no way to protect him. You don't want no kid, but ya would want to change his diaper for the rest of his life?"

Bay's mouth fell open as she stared at him with big eyes. "There's so many things wrong with what you just said, Daryl. I can't believe you would say something like that at all."

"Don't know what to say anymore, Bay. Look how fast he was gone... Hershel and Rick were right. There was no way to save him. Gotta be rational about it or shit like that. They were right, you and Pat were wrong this time."

"This is not about us being wrong, Daryl."

"Yeah, I know. It happened. It's done now."

"Yes. It is."

"You ain't mad at me, are ya?"

"For having your own opinion? No. For that thing you said about me not wanting a kid, but wanting to change Nick's diapers? Yes."

"Didn't mean it like that."

"You never say things you don't mean. So... what made you say it? Jealousy? Because maybe you think I might still have a crush on Nick? Or resentment? Because I lost our baby and thought it was for the best?"

"We ain't never talked about it. Not really. Ain't never had the chance to deal with it." Daryl rasped slowly.

"It's been six months since you found out, Daryl."

"Never had no time to think my own damn thoughts during those six months. You just keep sayin' it was for the best. Can't believe that. That ain't you. Bein' quiet about it, that ain't you neither. You talk about things. You let it out, but you ain't doin' it here, not with me, when maybe ya should."

"Since when do you want to talk about things?"

"Don't wanna,... maybe I just need **you** to talk. Maybe I just need to listen to ya telling the truth." he shrugged and sent her a careful sideway glance.

"The truth?" Bay narrowed her eyes at him.

"Yeah. It wasn't for the better. I don't believe you're thinking that. You're lyin' to yourself and to me. Don't like it. I know you, remember? You need to let it out. Truth will set ya free... Didn't they teach you that shit in Sunday school?"

Bay huffed quietly and shook her head while she felt her eyes starting to water. Daryl was managing to push all her buttons today. "You want the truth?"

"Yeah, I want the truth."

"Fine. I lost our baby, Daryl." An upset Bay cried. "Because I wasn't strong enough to keep going after you left, we never met it. We never got the chance to hold it in our arms. See it grow up. Because of me. All I had to do was be strong, pick myself back up, take care of myself and our child for three months until you came back to your senses. But I didn't. I was weak and selfish, and because of that we'll always look at Carl and Sophia and ask ourselves why our child isn't here and playing with them. Well, actually, I know why. Because of me letting myself go. It wasn't your fault or even Merle's. It was all me. There you have it. There's your truth. Now you tell me, how in the world is saying that out loud helping us in any way?" Bay was sobbing by now as that one carefully constructed wall inside of her came tumbling down and she was filled with guilt and regret.

Daryl used his strength to maneuver his crying girlfriend into his lap. When she was in his arms, he kissed her forehead and gently nuzzled her hair at the top of her head. "It helps just fine."

"You think I didn't want your baby? I wanted it... but I didn't know it until those horrible cramps started. I knew what was happening immediately and I cried, not just because of the pain, but because in that instant, I wanted nothing more than for that baby to survive, to keep growing inside of me. In that instant I regretted not taking care of it. I regretted losing the last piece of you I had left. Over time, I dealt with it. I was okay. I kept telling myself that it was for the better. Especially when the dead started walking... Then you showed up on the farm and everything came rushing back. But still, I kept telling myself that it was for the better. And then you found Sophia, and you carried her back all the way, even though you were still injured... Ever since then, I look at her and Carl, and I miss not having our child. You would have protected it with your life. We would have been okay. We would have been a family. We would have been a really good family... But it didn't happen, because I was too careless. Too self-absorbed in my pain to take care of our baby. You would have protected our child at all costs. I didn't. And living with that guilt is killing me, Daryl. So I dealt with it in my own way."

"You didn't deal with it, Bay. You only lied to yourself."

"I know. But it was okay. It was enough to be able to keep on living, no matter how wrong it might have been. The fact is, Daryl, I killed our child and I have to live with it, because I can't bring myself to end my own life. So I did what I had to in order to be able to move on. I lied to myself. Convinced myself that I never could have raised it on my own anyway." Bay's sobs had started to ebb off, but the tears were still flowing and her whole body was shaking like a leaf. "Now you know. I hope you feel better, because I don't."

"You will." Daryl murmured into her hair, while he tried to give her comfort. He gently rubbed her arm, her back and her thigh, trying to soothe her shaking body. He did feel better. All this time Bay had given him the impression that she had been downright happy about losing their baby. It had made him feel rejected, in a way. She had given him the feeling that he wasn't entitled to be sad about that loss. It had also troubled him how calm and casual she had been about the whole thing. Now, his heart was hurting, because Bay was hurting and blaming herself, but at the same time, he really felt better. Like a weight, that had rested heavy on his heart, had been lifted. These past months, ever since they had reunited, Daryl had felt like he and Bay hadn't been able to fully re-establish the connection they had shared all those years ago. Back then, she had always been brave with him, had always opened up and told him everything. At the farm and on the run, Daryl had felt that she had kept some part locked down and that she had shut him out in some ways. Now he felt like he had successfully busted through that last barrier of hers. She had finally opened up all the way. Granted, what he had found on the other side of the wall was heartbreaking, but like she had said, now he knew. Now they could work towards putting each other back together and heal together.

"It ain't on you, baby girl." Daryl tilted her head up and looked her directly in the eyes.

"It's not on you or Merle."

"It's on all three of us and it ain't on any one of us... ya know?" Daryl, as usual, had trouble expressing the things he was thinking. "All three of us fucked up. We all made mistakes... We all did things that led to all of this. Neither one of us killed our baby, Bay. It happened. It fucking sucks, but it just happened. It was... shit... what the fuck do you call that? A series of... what?"

"A series of unfortunate events?" Bay completed the sentence for him.

"Yeah, that's right. That's what it was. I ain't blamin' you. Never, ya hear? So there ain't no need for you to blame yourself. You didn't kill our baby."

"When I woke up in the hospital and started to remember... I prayed for death." Bay told him, her voice rid of any emotion. Her statement made his stomach drop to the ground.

"Stop."

"It's true. I felt like I had nothing left. I never told you, but they almost had to amputate my leg. Kept getting infected."

Daryl's eyes widened and he felt like he had to throw up. "Jesus fuck, Bay..."

"Those were the lowest days of my life, Daryl. I had lost my chance to go to college, I had lost my jobs, I had lost you and our baby, and I was in danger of losing my leg, too, and with it, the possibility of making good money and earn it all back quickly. Yeah, at that point, I just wanted to die. But I wasn't able to do it myself. Too much of a good little Catholic. Too much of a coward, too. I prayed for the infection to spread and just kill me. That's the woman you love, Daryl. I'm not strong. I'm not as good as I would like to be. I'm a disappointment to everyone I know. I let all of you down. And now Nick died, because I wasn't able to do something about it. Not even able to convince someone to do something... The way I treated you the past couple of weeks. You deserve someone better."

"That's bullshit." Daryl scoffed and wrapped his arms around her even tighter. He sheltered her curled up form in his strong embrace while they fell silent and got lost in their own thoughts.

Eventually, Daryl lifted her off his lap and set her on the floor. "Come on."

Bay frowned up at him, while he got up from the ground and grabbed the camping lantern. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see. Come on." he held his hand out for her, which she took, and helped her up from the ground. He slung their blanket and his poncho over his shoulder, and dragged her down the stairs. "We're in D. Don't follow us." he told Rick in passing. The leader nodded, knowing he could trust Daryl to look after himself and Bay. But he also knew that cell block D was secure now, and that the twosome shouldn't run into any trouble over there.

* * *

"Take it all off." Daryl told her in his quiet, raspy voice as he tugged on her top. They had reached their destination and he had locked the door behind them with his set of keys.

"Do they work?" Bay asked with wide eyes, as she took in the shower stalls in the low glow of the lantern.

"Yeah, but there's cold water only."

"Better than nothing."

"Take it off." Daryl repeated, while he unfastened his belt.

They took off their clothes, then, Daryl guided Bay to one of the showers. By now both of them had learned to bite back their yelps when cold water hit them, and they got used to its temperature fairly quick. Daryl grasped Bay's upper arm and slowly turned her around, so that her back was facing him. He pushed the long, thick braid over her left shoulder before he gently and slowly ran a soft sponge from the back of her neck, down along her right shoulder and all the way down her arm to her wrist; washing away the traces a day full of digging in the dirt had left. His lips followed the path the sponge had taken, unhurriedly pressing soft kisses against the back and the side of her neck, and against the wet skin of her shoulder, before he repeated the whole process on the left side, and not just there. He traced the sponge and his lips along her spine, tenderly kissing all along the middle line of her back.

He got on his knees behind her and kept washing her almost reverently. His eyes took in every detail of her naked body as he worshiped it by lavishing tender attention on it. Bay was brought to tears by it. Memories of them being in their old bathroom, spending hour after hour hidden away in her bathtub, surrounded by candles, flooded her. The light of the small lantern looked like candle light. It was as romantic as it got in this kind of world. In this moment she felt, like she had felt back then. Comforted, sheltered and loved. Daryl hadn't said much at all after she had told him all the things she had kept bottled up inside of her for so long, but now he was showing her, that he still loved her, despite all her mistakes and shortcomings. It was like a band-aid for her soul.

When he reached her feet, he made her turn around to face him. Carefully, he placed his hand slightly over the heel of her left foot and applied pressure, silently telling her to balance herself on her other leg. When she was steady, he lifted her foot to rest on his thigh, then he slowly dragged the wet sponge down her thigh, over her knees and down her shin. He leaned forward slightly and kissed her knee while he guided the sponge over the soft skin of her delicate foot. When he had cleaned both her legs, he dropped the sponge and cupped the velvety flesh of her butt in his big hands. He pulled her closer, and when she was close enough, he trailed the tip of his nose through her pubic hair, starting at the top of her slit and moving up to her mound. He kissed the spot just above her patch of curls, and rested his mouth there as he slung his arms around her hips, preventing her from stepping back.

"Marry me?" he all but whispered against her skin, but still loud enough for her to hear over the sound of the shower.

Bay gasped as her jaw dropped in shock. "You wanna... You want to marry me?"

Daryl tilted his head up, pressing his chin into her abdomen, and nodded lightly. "Yeah. Always wanted to. Never stopped wanting to. Yer old man can do that, right?"

"But... what I told you..."

"Don't change the fact that I wanna be with ya forever, Bay. Your mine. Always will be. Now's as good a time as any to make it official, dontcha think?" he murmured calmly, like he was talking about the weather. "Might be the best time. None of us know how much longer we all got. So... you wanna? Ain't got no rings, but we can get 'em one of the next times we go out."

"I don't care about rings, Daryl. I only want you. So yes, I wanna." she was finally smiling again and Daryl finally got up from the ground. Before she knew what hit her, he was crushing her to his chest and kissing her long and hard. Soon he felt Bay's tongue tracing his bottom lip, making him shiver. He parted his lips and let his tongue meet hers. They flicked at each other sensually a couple of times, before he chased her tongue and dipped his into the sweet, hot cavern of her mouth. Bay let her hands roam, starting by digging her fingers into his shoulder blades, before she dragged her nails lightly down his back. Daryl growled into her mouth and grabbed her ass, making her rub up against his hardening cock. "Let's get outta here." he said under his breath when he pulled away from her.

Bay was confused and incredulous at the same time. "What? Now?"

"Trust me." he gave her that cute little grin, which sadly had become so rare these days. "C'mon."

He wrapped his poncho around her and took her to the cells. "Ain't an office, but there ain't walkers or people, so I reckon it's gonna do for tonight." he told her as he locked himself in with her, in one of the cells. He kissed her while he removed the poncho from her body. Even though no one else was around, he still felt better hanging the thing over the bars.

"I thought you said you wouldn't sleep in a cage." Bay said as she watched him cover the door with the poncho.

"Ain't never said nothin' 'bout sleepin'." he smirked, before he wrapped her back up in his arms and kissed her hotly. His hands trailed up her sides, sliding to the front just when his thumb had brushed the sides of her breasts. He cupped them, covered them with his big hands, massaging and squeezing until her nipples pebbled and poked his palm. He nipped and mouthed along her jaw, flicking his tongue against her earlobe, letting her feel his hot breath against it. "Fucking love your sweet tits, baby girl." he rasped into her ear, making his girl tremble and moan when he paired the statement with a nice, rough squeeze. He gently scraped his teeth against the sensitive spot just behind her ear, then he licked a long line down her neck and down the middle of her chest, until his mouth met her cross necklace. He flicked his eyes up to look into hers while he kissed it, then he moved to the right and teased the hard, rosy peak of her breast with the very tip of his tongue, grinning when her breath hitched in her throat, while her fingers threaded through his hair.

"Daryl..." she breathed his name as his tongue kept stoking the fire inside of her higher and higher. "Ooh!" Bay moaned out loud when Daryl suddenly engulfed half her breast in his hot mouth and sucked long and hard. The sensation shot straight to her center, making it swell and moisten as she grew more and more aroused by his ministrations. Daryl broke eye contact, letting his fall shut as he hummed with contentment around her breast. It turned into a groan when Bay's hands found his swollen cock. She made an appreciative sound in the back of her throat when she felt him harden and expand further in her grasp. Suddenly, her mouth watered at the thought of taking him into her mouth and tasting him. Even though it had only been a couple of days since she had last done that, it was still too long in her book. "Daryl," she tried to get his attention, "Daryl, I want **this **in my mouth." she said while she gave his dick a squeeze. "I want to taste you."

Daryl groaned and sunk his teeth into the supple flesh of her breast in response. Her words were enough to bring him to his knees again. He had wanted to focus on her, but he simply couldn't pass up the chance to feel her sexy mouth on him. When he had released her breast from his mouth, Daryl let Bay push him to sit on the edge of the bunk bed. She grabbed the blanket they had brought and put it on the floor, before she gently pushed his knees further apart and knelt between his legs. Daryl inhaled sharply when she traced her tongue up the inside of his right thigh. Her hands stroked over his belly, and caressed his chest and shoulders, while she lightly bit and sucked on his thigh, making her lover jump and shiver. Daryl released a little helpless moan when Bay's tongue found a new destination and she ran it up and down along the seam at the middle of his scrotum.

"Suck 'em, baby girl." he grunted before he bit his lip in anticipation. Bay obediently opened her mouth and sucked one of his testicles into it, suckling softly and gently massaging it with her tongue. "Nnnghh fuck!" Daryl's head fell back when a wave of pleasurable heat rolled through his groin and spread out in all directions. His dick jumped, tapping against his belly, the precum that had gathered at the little slit leaving a glistening, wet spot behind. Daryl let his head fall forward again. He opened his eyes and swiped at the wet spot with his thumb. When Bay let him plop out of her mouth, he brought his thumb down to her lips, pushing it past them and pressing it down against her tongue, giving her a little taste.

"Mmmm." Bay hummed after she had sucked his juices off of his thumb. She grabbed hold of his wrist and pulled his hand away from her face, then, while looking up at him, she leaned in and rubbed the tip of her nose along the underside of his thick shaft, from the base all the way up to the wide tip. Daryl shuddered and his breathing became more labored by the second while he watched her. She was so sexy, she would never know just how much. But that was part of her appeal. She was sweet and humble, never aware of how beautiful and alluring she was. She had lost some of her innocence along the way, but when it was just the two of them, like they were right now, he still saw the old Bay shining through, and it killed him in the best way. Daryl chuckled a little when he saw her smile up at him as she parted her lips and let her tongue flick the underside of his tip repeatedly.

_Little minx, _Daryl thought. She knew exactly what she was doing. She knew that that little move drove him insane. He grabbed the edge of the bunk until his knuckles turned white, while she forced a loud groan from him with that thing her tongue was doing. "Oh... sshhhhiiit..." he groaned when she tilted her head to the side and closed her lips over his frenulum, giving that hot spot of his a little suck while she drew tiny circles on it with her tongue. She grinned again when she had him shaking, then she moved her tongue up further, to collect her "reward". She lapped at the clear, bitter fluid that had gathered at his tip, then she finally let him slip into her mouth. "Mmmm, yeah..." Daryl breathed, followed by another groan when she started working him with her mouth. She bobbed her head up and down, hollowing out her cheeks and giving him nice suction, every time she moved back up. She took as much of him in as possible, while her hand took care of the rest, working the part from base to middle, using the same rhythm as she was using with her mouth. Her free hand slipped between his legs and fondled his balls, rolling and massaging them in her palm. "Baby girl... fuck yeah... just like that. Don't stop, girl." Daryl groaned and put one hand on the back of her head, not pushing her down, just reflexively making sure she wouldn't stop and leave him hanging.

Bay had no intention of leaving him hanging. She was eager to give him pleasure and make him cum in her mouth. She couldn't get enough of him. If her jaw wouldn't start aching like a bitch, she would be doing this all day long. She genuinely enjoyed doing this for him. She had never understood why a lot of girls from their old circle of friends didn't like giving blow jobs. Making Daryl come apart and lose control in that way, was the hottest thing ever to her.

When his breathing turned harsher, and when his moans grew more frequent and more high-pitched, she sped it up and sucked him harder, knowing exactly what he needed in this moment. "Bay... fuck, now, Bay, now! Aaaah fuuuck mmmmmmm..." His fingers dug into her scalp just when she felt his dick spasm as his warm, viscous essence filled her mouth. She swallowed as quickly as possible, but a little bit still got away from her and spilled out of the corner of her mouth, while she kept sucking him softly throughout his aftershocks. She only stopped when gentle hands cradled her jaw and slowly pulled her up. Daryl was still panting, but they shared a smile while his thumb wiped away the evidence of his pleasure, that had gotten away from her. He slid down from the bunk, landing on his knees in front of her, and kissed her, not bothered by his own taste on her tongue. "Fucking love ya, Bay. Now be a good girl for me and support yourself on that bunk, and spread your legs for me." he moved around and behind her. He put a hand on the middle of her back and applied pressure, making her lean forward. Bay rested her forearms on the bunk bed, then she widened the stance of her knees, making her back arch as her ass was pushed up into the air invitingly.

Daryl licked his lips and put his hands on her, squeezing the firm globes, pushing them together, then pulling them apart, spreading her fully to his view. When he saw her puckered hole, he was suddenly hit with a big rush of arousal, because the image of pushing a finger inside flashed up inside his head. They had never played around in that area before, had never talked about it, either... They had never gotten to that point... _Taking my good girl's ass... Goddamn... _He had just cum, but imagining his sweet, little, catholic girlfriend letting him take her that way made his dick twitch and harden again.

He was curious, and before he knew what he was doing, he leaned down and gave her a long lick, right across the tight, little opening. "Daryl!" Bay yelped as she reflexively moved her pelvis forward, away from his probing tongue. She was blushing furiously as her conflicting emotions scrambled her thoughts.

"What?" Daryl asked before he licked up her spine. He pressed himself against her back, putting his mouth right next to her ear as one of his hands grasped her left breast, while the other one slipped between her legs, rubbing her wet and swollen nub with two fingers. "Didn't like that?"

"I... I... yes... no... I mean... oh God, baby..." she didn't know what to think, and him rubbing her clit like that, was definitely not helping her in getting her thoughts in order.

Daryl smirked. He knew Bay, and he knew she would have told him very, very clearly if she wouldn't have liked it. She was adorably red in the face, telling him she was very embarrassed, and why would she be embarrassed about **not** liking it? "Ya liked it, baby girl... didn't you?"

"You can't... ooohhh right there... yes!"

"I can't do what, sweetheart?"

"You can't lick me there..." she breathed with closed eyes. What his fingers were doing felt so damn good, she knew she wouldn't need much longer to cum as well.

"Why not?" he smirked, getting a kick out of her embarrassment.

"It's... People don't... I... I don't know... God, Daryl..."

"Maybe 'cause good girls aren't s'pposed to like having their asses played with?"

"Yeah..."

"But we both know that you ain't always good, right Bay?" he grinned and let his voice drop even lower, knowing what kind of effect it had on her. "...and I really, **really **wanna play with it, sweet girl." Daryl kept rubbing circles all around her clit, but he removed his other hand from her breast and took hold of his turgid length. While he talked to her, he rubbed the tip along her slit. Bay moaned and pushed back against him, making him slide his dick inside of her. He didn't move, he just kept himself imbedded inside of her, giving her the added pleasure of being filled while he rubbed her to orgasm. "I wanna lick it some more... wanna know how wet it's gon' make you. You can be such a dirty girl for me, I bet it would make ya drip, sweetheart. Mmmm, fuck... I bet I'd make ya gush by puttin' my finger in there, huh? Ever thought about that, Bay? Hm? Ever thought about me pushing my cock into that forbidden little place?"

Bay came. And she came hard, judging by how strongly her muscles were contracting around his dick. He wasn't sure if he had ever felt it being this intense. She was quiet and held her breath while her pussy clenched hard, but as soon as Daryl started thrusting, she released little shouts and groans while she braced herself and pushed back against him. Daryl yanked her up and kissed her sloppily, groaning out his pleasure against her lips. It felt so good and so intense, different than before. The fact registered in the back of his mind, but he was too far gone to realize why it felt better. And so was Bay. They lost themselves in the moment and the sensations as he fucked them both to a second orgasm.

"Fuck, Daryl... Love you so much." Bay muttered under her breath, after they had collapsed on the blanket-covered ground together.

Daryl grinned sleepily. Cursing Bay meant sexually extremely satisfied Bay. Mission accomplished. "Love ya, too, sweetheart." he forced out, before he dozed off for a little post-coital nap.

* * *

Outside of cell block D, Rick walked up to Merle, who had followed Bay and Daryl, against Daryl's wishes. Not to listen to them have sex or something like that, just to guard the entrance and make sure neither dead nor living would get inside. He was his brother's keeper after all. Better late than never. When Rick was close enough, he held out one of Merle's shirts. It got cold at night and Merle was still in his dirty, old wife-beater. Merle took it, nodding ever so slightly as a sign of gratitude.

"Good job today." Rick praised him, to which Merle shrugged.

"Ya sure 'bout that? Lost a good man..."

"It was his own fault. He wasn't careful enough. He was stupid. I told him to kick the door shut and take the walkers out through the bars. He didn't listen. That's what got him killed. Wasn't us."

"Maybe ya should tell Miss Bayanne that... Take the edge off her wrath." Merle chuckled.

"Wouldn't make a difference to her." Rick sighed. "Let her blame me. She'll come back around. Always does. She has her convictions, I have mine. Sometimes we don't agree, but we get over it eventually." Rick looked at Merle with a knowing expression. "Will be same between you and her... eventually."

"Hm.. maybe... 'cause the church way is tellin' her to, but I doubt I'll ever get real forgiveness. Don't deserve it neither, I reckon."

"You ever feel sorry for what you did? I mean back then? When it was just you and Daryl, after you left Dalton?"

Merle nodded slowly. "When he told me she offed herself. I knew that happened 'cause of me. Never wanted that to happen. She's strong. A fighter. Feisty and sweet... Ya know, back then? I kept thinking, too bad that she ain't older... I would'a tapped that... My baby brother did well... I like her, I do, but... had them damn Mexicans on my ass. Needed to save my own ass and Daryl's. I knew she would be able to come back from losin' the money. Knew she would find someone better than Daryl. Maybe some fancy dick with money, who would help her out with getting the cash back... Somethin' like that. Thought the two of 'em was some kind of puppy love shit... didn't think it went that deep, that him leavin' made her wanna kill herself... Guess in the end it didn't, but back then? Yeah, felt sorry for a while. Never said nothin' though. Ain't my thing."

"You just told me, why can't you tell her or the both of them?"

Merle shrugged. "Dunno. Half the time I don't know why I do the things I do. Guess I'm a damn mystery to myself."

Rick let out a small laugh. "Guess so." he mumbled before he turned around and walked back to cell block C, while Merle got comfortable and kept watch.

* * *

**Thank you for reading! **

**Thoughts? Were you surprised by Daryl's proposal? And Bay's "confession" that she still blames herself for killing their child? Do you think her finally getting it out of her system will change how she thinks about Merle, and (more importantly) her relationship with Daryl? Tell me what you think. I love hearing your take on it. **

**Some of you are probably asking themselves, why the hell I even brought Nick into the story, just to kill him off without us ever getting to know him. I actually had plans for Nick, but then Daryl and Bay got out of hand and started writing themselves again, so my plans didn't pan out and poor Nick ended up on the chopping block. Maybe the smut softened the blow? lol. **

**Special thank you to the awesome reviewers:**

**DarylDixon'sLover**

**ElsaEditorial**

**wabi-sabi1090**

**krissyg49**

**ArcheryLefty**

**redangel2463**

**Confinedloner**


	45. Chapter 46

No one was surprised that Daryl and Bay wanted to get married, least of all Hershel. Over the months he had been able to watch the couple, and despite them having their ups and downs, he knew that their love was the real thing. He couldn't wish for a better husband for Bay. Daryl would go to great lengths to keep Bay safe, and not just from walkers. Daryl cared and provided for her, made sure she ate enough and rested enough and drank enough water when she was working outside, and he did it selflessly and with a lot of love. Even though Daryl hadn't asked for it, they had Hershel's blessing.

Daryl wanted to do it right away, but then Bay had surprised him.

"Let's wait." she had told him when he had brought it up.

"What? Why? Thought we didn't wanna wait no more?"

"I know, but... you'll think it's silly, but..."

"What?"

"I want to wear a real wedding dress. Like, a really real one, you know?" she blushed as she said it, embarrassed by her desire to look like a beautiful princess at least one day in her life... like it was supposed to be. Just this once. "I want the dress and the shoes and the something new, something borrowed, something blue thing..."

"Yesterday ya didn't even want rings."

"I know what I said, but... I'm still a girl, you know? I never got to go to prom or anything... I never got to dress up and have someone take my picture... I know these things shouldn't be important anymore, but I think it's important to me to do it like that. Not completely conventional, I won't ask you to wear a suit, unless you would want to, but I want to be a real bride and I want to get a polaroid camera and have a picture of us on our wedding day. I want that memory, even if it's silly."

"Ain't silly. If that's what ya want, it's what you're gon' get, baby girl." Daryl said decisively before he kissed her long and hard. "One of the next trips, we're gonna find you all that stuff you want." he promised, but he knew that it wouldn't be within the next couple of days, since getting things at the prison up and running had top priority.

* * *

Two days later the men found the armory. As Rick had predicted, it was still stuffed to the brim with weapons, smoke bombs, riot gear, ammunition, etc. It enabled them to finally clear out the yard that was still full of walkers. The day after that, they found the infirmary and they were able to clear out and secure the A block as well. In this case "A" stood for administration. They had found the offices, which were extremely coveted by the couples among the group, since they meant "alone time"in a safe space, behind a real, closed door.

Every day the men of the group were able to secure more and more of the big complex, and after a week, they no longer needed to lock everything and were able to roam freely, without the threat of walkers looming around every corner. Long lists were written, with all the things they would need now, in order to make it a home, and to have all systems working, so to speak.

Daryl's observant eyes skimmed the lists on the table in front of him, because he wanted to plan out some trips to local stores. It very quickly became obvious to him, where they would have to go first. "Looks like we should hit Home Depot first. They should have almost everything we need. All the shit for planting and the irrigation system, plus the stuff for inside... curtains, space heaters, padlocks, mattresses.. Shit. Maybe we should just all move into that store. Might be easier." he scoffed when he realized how many times they might have to go there. Pat and Erin had told them, that Dalton had been one of the first places the virus (or whatever it was) had hit, and that it had spread fast. All the stores had been left almost untouched since then, so they might get lucky and find everything they needed without having to drive around hundreds of miles.

Rick nodded in agreement. "Sounds about right, but Home Depot isn't exactly a fortress, I assume. Not like this prison. Damn, even with two cars, it's gonna be a lot of trips. We're gonna be needing a lot of fuel."

"Maybe not." Bay spoke up. Her brows were furrowed in concentration when she looked at her fiancé. "Can we remove a couple of seats from the bus that's outside? Is that possible? And put them back in later?"

Daryl nodded. "Yeah, the seats are bolted down. We'll just need a couple of wrenches to get them out. Ain't gon' take long at all. Why?"

"That way we only need one 'car' and less trips." Bay explained.

"The bus needs more fuel than a car." Rick argued.

"Bay's idea ain't bad, though." Daryl said. "Even if 8 of us go, we only need the first two rows of seats. If we remove the other seats, we can cram a lot of shit into that bus. We can stack, like, 10 mattresses in there in one go. And a lot of other stuff on the same trip. It might be our best option."

Rick nodded slowly while he mulled it over. "Who's going with you?"

"Pat, Glenn, Maggie and Hershel."

"Hershel?" Rick's eyebrows rose. "Why?"

"He's the farmer." Daryl stated. "Only one who knows for sure what he needs for the crops and shit."

"Don't worry, we're not making him go. He asked to go." Bay added.

Rick nodded and made a mental note to talk to Hershel. He knew that the oldest member of their group was able to handle himself, but he would still like to talk him into wearing the riot gear they had taken off some of the prison guard walkers. "Fine. You're not going?" he asked looking at Bay.

"No. I'm gonna sit this one out."

Rick narrowed his eyes at her and studied her for a moment. Bay didn't look at him, so eventually, he nodded. "Alright. Get the bus ready. First trip is tomorrow. The earlier, the better."

"Gonna ask Dale to help me with the seats." Daryl said. "Or you need him for something else?"

"No, go ahead and ask him. Bay? A word?" Rick shot her a quick look before he walked away from the table and then out into the yard.

"How I hate when he says that." Bay sighed, making Daryl smirk.

"Don't we all." he scoffed. "Hey... c'mere." he motioned her closer before he cradled her face in his hands and kissed her lovingly. He barely ever said anything, but he was proud as hell whenever Bay came up with a good idea. Like with the bus and removing the seats. "Good call with the bus and all..."

"Thanks." Bay brightly smiled up at him, after he had pulled away a little. "I'm gonna go."

"Yeah, me too. Gonna get Dale and get started on the bus. See ya later, babe." he kissed her again and gently squeezed her ass once, since her behind was facing the exit and nobody would see what he was doing.

"Mmmm... yeah... later." Bay sighed dreamily and went outside to meet up with Rick. Things between her and Daryl had been better since the night Nick had died and Bay had opened up to Daryl. No more secrets, and it felt damn good. She loosely tucked her fingers into her pockets and casually strolled up to Rick. "What's up?"

"You're still not talking to me?"

"I'm talking to you right now, Rick."

"Not like you used to. It's been a week, Bay. You seriously still mad at me?"

"Let me ask you something first." Bay pulled her hands out of her pockets and crossed her arms over her chest. "Let's say that in, I don't know, six months from now, Dale or Hershel start to change..."

"Change how?" Rick furrowed his brow in confusion. He had no idea where Bay was going with this.

"Little changes at first. Like suddenly going into the wrong cell to lay down at night. Repeating themselves more often. Forgetting things... Then it gets worse. They start seeing their dead wives or pets. Talk to them, interact with them, like they're really there. Getting aggressive when you tell them they're just imagining it..."

"You talking about Dale or Hershel developing dementia?"

"It could happen. It's quite common on Hershel's side of the family. Now, I've been asking myself in the past week... what happens when they reach the stage when they would no longer be able to talk or go to the bathroom by themselves or feed themselves? Some people with dementia can't walk anymore...? Uh, what if one of us gets some kind of cancer and suddenly gets sicker and sicker? Hm, Rick? What happens then?"

"Bay..." Rick sighed deeply and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"What? It's a valid question. Survivors like us can still get sick with all that crap from the old days. Think because humanity is being eradicated, the sicknesses are getting eradicated with them? I don't think so, Rick. So please tell me, what's gonna happen when one of us gets sick and can't fight anymore and becomes a liability?"

"Let's cross that bridge when we get to it. **If** we ever get to it. You're overthinking this whole thing, Bay. We need to worry about what's going on now, not what's gonna happen in some hypothetical future."

Bay didn't reply to that. She only sighed and looked to the side and off into the distance. Rick was getting frustrated with not getting through to her. "Look, I didn't want to let Nick die, Bay. You heard what Hershel said, Nick was a goner. If things would have been different,... if Hershel would have said that there was a chance... but there was none."

"I get it, Rick. I know I didn't get it when it happened, but I see it now. Hershel would have done something if he could have. He would have tried, no matter what you would have said. You're right, Nick was a goner. I just... I don't know... I keep worrying about things lately..." Bay shrugged and looked down at the ground for a moment. Rick was about to speak up after a couple of seconds of silence, but then Bay stunned him into silence. "I might be pregnant."

Rick's eyes widened and it took a moment for him to find his voice. "How's that possible? You all took those birth control shots..."

"Yes, we did. We were supposed to wait seven days until we had unprotected sex, though... The night Nick died and Daryl and I stayed in the other cell block? Guess we got a little carried away... It was only a couple of days post-shot... so... it might have happened..." Bay muttered under her breath as her stomach clenched unpleasantly.

"Does Daryl know?"

"Of course he knows. He was there..." Bay laughed humorlessly.

"That's why you're sitting this one out."

"Yeah. He wants me to take it easy, just in case... until we know for sure." Bay explained.

"He's right." Rick agreed with Daryl. "Whenever he's gone, I'm gonna keep my eye on you, make sure you don't overdo it."

"Don't worry, I'm being careful this time around." Bay reassured him. "But hey, don't tell anyone, okay?"

"I won't." Rick promised. "You okay to work the field?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

"Good. Get some water and then let's get started." Rick said and gently squeezed her shoulder as he led her inside.

* * *

A couple of days later, Daryl and the rest of his small group were taking yet another trip to the store. Bay's idea of removing the seats and taking the bus had turned out to be pure gold. They needed a lot of big items, though, so numerous trips were still necessary.

It was an incredibly hot day, with the sun beating down mercilessly on Bay and Beth, who kept planting the crops. Bay usually wasn't one to complain, but today, she felt herself suffering from the intense heat. She still didn't know if she was pregnant or not, which made her want to play it safe. So, around noon, she straightened and looked over to Beth, who was sweating rivers as well. "Let's take a break and cool off for half an hour. This heat is crazy. Won't do any good if we drop in the dirt like flies."

Beth squinted at the older woman, nodding in agreement as she wiped some sweat off her forehead with the back of her hand. "I hope Daddy's okay. He's wearing that riot gear. It looked like it would be really hot under there."

"He's fine, I'm sure. He can take a lot." Bay tried to sound reassuring, but she just ended up sounding tired and annoyed. She brushed some dirt off her knees and motioned towards the prison. "Come on."

Before the women were able to go inside, Rick met up with them and held out two bottles of water. "Here. Looks like you two could use it."

"Thanks, Rick." Bay took the bottle and immediately opened it to take a sip.

"Thanks." Beth smiled at Rick before she, too, quickly drank some of the water.

"We're gonna take a little break." Bay informed the leader, who nodded.

"Good idea. Make sure to drink plenty of water today. It's like a desert out here."

"Will do." Bay nodded, before she nudged Beth with her elbow. "Excuse us." When Rick stepped aside, they finally went inside.

"I'm gonna go to my cell for a bit." Beth said.

"Okay, see you later." Bay smiled and put her hand on Beth's back for a short moment, then she took off to the coolest place inside the prison she knew: the tombs. The place still kinda gave her the creeps, so she didn't venture too far into them. She stopped at a random spot and sat down, moaning quietly in joy when she leaned her back against the wall. It wasn't super cold, but noticeably colder than her own body, and the small relief it provided felt damn good.

Her joy was short-lived though. As soon as she started to relax, she felt a weird sense of dread sneak up on her. It wasn't related to any dangers from the outside, it was, like it was focused on her own body. Suddenly she realized that she kept clenching her right hand into a fist repeatedly. She felt a dull, throbbing sensation in her right forearm, which she now regarded with a frown settled on her features. It wasn't pain. It felt different. It felt uncomfortable, but at the same time, like it wasn't really there.

_Not infected. _Bay screwed her eyes shut and shook her head lightly when she heard the words inside her head. "What the hell?" she muttered, because it actually hadn't been her own voice inside her head just now. "Damn sun." she sighed and reached for her bottle of water, thinking that she might have been too late in taking a break. The heat had affected her already.

"What's goin' on here?" Merle's voice suddenly echoed off the walls. Bay groaned quietly and squeezed her eyes shut once more. "You takin' a siesta or somethin'?"

"Go away, Merle."

"No can do, sorry Sugar." Merle said jovially and sat down next to her on the dusty ground. "Promised Daryl I'd keep my eye on ya."

"Huh... and you're actually doing what he told you to do? Guess hell really has frozen over." Bay scoffed before she took another sip of water.

"Maybe." Merle shrugged. He looked at her, studied her, during a moment of silence. Bay felt his eyes bore into her, so she eventually turned her head and met his gaze full on. It didn't show, but Merle startled a little at the sudden eye contact. No matter how much of a tough guy he was, no matter how little he let things affect him, like many others, he wasn't immune to Bay's big, beautiful eyes; especially this up-close and personal. They made his heart soften, they made him feel guilty, and he didn't like it. Therefore, he quickly averted his gaze and stared at the ground. "Ya know, ya can't ignore me forever, Miss Bayanne. We're stuck here together... Gonna have to work together eventually. Gotta trust each other ta have one another's back out there, right?"

Bay let out a humorless laugh at that. "Meaning? What? You think I'd let you get bit to get my revenge on you?"

"Nah, but you don't trust me. Think I'd let ya die to get rid of you. Ain't true, Sugar. Never was. One day you're gon' have to believe that."

"And how exactly am I supposed to believe that? What you did back then? It was all about getting rid of me."

"It wasn't. Was about saving my own hide... and Daryl's... get a fresh start somewhere else. Had nothin' to do with you."

"You're kidding me, right? I know you're smart, so you can't expect me to believe that."

"What are you sayin'?"

"I'm saying, that there were other options, Merle. And I don't believe that you didn't know that. If it wasn't about getting rid of me and having Daryl to yourself, then why didn't you let him come to me? Why didn't you let me come with you guys, then? No, you wanted me out of the picture." Bay said and took Merle's silence as confirmation. "You know, if you would have come to me and asked me for the money, you could have spared all of us a lot of heartache."

Merle's head snapped back to the side to look at her at that. "Shut up... Ya never would have given me yer hard earned cash."

"Really? You think my money was more important to me than a human life? The life of the brother of the love of my life, no less? Even if I wouldn't have done it for you, I still would have done it for Daryl, because you're his brother and he loves you." Bay wore a small, sad smile on her face. Yeah, she might have had a hard time letting go of the money, but to save a life, she would have done it, no matter how much Merle had screwed up to end up in that situation to begin with. "Back then, when we had our thing going, with our jobs and everything... I started thinking about changing my plans. I was so happy with the way things were... my desire to go to college started to fade more and more with each week. I felt guilty about that, because I had promised my grandma to go to college and become a psychiatrist... but first and foremost I had promised her to work hard on making my dreams come true... I guess my dreams changed when I met Daryl. We were making a life for ourselves. We were happy. After the hell I went through with my family, I was living a dream with him. I could have kept on doing that for a long time. At least until the baby would have been born. We could have used some of the money for the baby, but the rest of it... Might not have missed it, had I given it to you to help you out..."

Merle swallowed hard when she mentioned the baby. His niece or nephew, gone, because of the shitty things he had done to his or her mother. That one hurt him physically. He had never really been any good with kids, they were annoying and whiny, but damn, that baby had been his own blood. Learning about it had felt like a punch to the gut. When Daryl had told him, for a split-second, Merle had seen himself and Daryl when they had been way younger, and he had seen little Daryl get ripped away from him, without him being able to stop it from happening. It had been a helpless and devastating feeling that had filled him upon hearing about the lost Dixon baby. He felt sorry, but he had no idea how to say the words out loud. "I'm... about that baby... it's a damn shame." he pressed out without looking at her.

"It's not on you." Bay sighed. "Like Daryl said, it's on all of us and it's on none of us..."

"Yeah." Merle nodded slightly. "Too late to take any of it back now."

"Damn right." Bay agreed. "Would you even want to take any of it back?"

"Yeah..." Merle responded truthfully. He looked at her and saw her frown deeply. At the same time, she looked like she wasn't paying attention to him anymore. "What?"

"Nothing... I don't... I feel weird." Bay wasn't able to describe what was going on. She suddenly felt restless and like something was building inside her body. "Shhhh!" she grabbed his arm and shushed him when he opened his mouth again. "What's that noise? Do you hear that?"

"Hear what? You got a heatstroke or somethin'?" he frowned at her while she strained her ears.

She swore she heard a low drone and a beeping noise. "What the hell is that? Do you seriously not hear that?" She didn't wait for an answer. She jumped up and ran out of the tombs and back into the cell block. It was empty, but she heard the shouts of the others outside. Bay looked up to the windows, firmly rooted in her spot at what she was seeing. Her brain had trouble catching up with what was happening. She didn't even realize that Merle had followed her, until she heard his voice.

"Is that a damn helicopter?" He couldn't have been more surprised, but unlike Bay, his brain caught up quickly and he realized what was happening. "MOVE, MOVE, MOVE! We gotta get outta here!"

Merle pushed her, and because she was so flabbergasted, she stumbled and fell. Suddenly it was all pure chaos. She had no idea what was happening, but she must have hit her head. All of a sudden, her world went black, but unfortunately not quiet. It got horribly noisy. The beeping noise was incredibly insistent and incredibly loud, it hurt her head and she was barely able to take it. She wasn't able to see, she felt dazed and alert at the same time. She must have fallen face first and inhaled the dust from the ground. She couldn't breathe and was gagging up a storm. She clawed at her throat, trying to catch her breath, while she felt someone pushing and pulling at her. It was all too overwhelming, the darkness, the noise, the pain, no air... she tried to scream, but nothing came out. It was the last thing she did, before an imaginary black cloud swallowed her whole and everything stopped.

* * *

Outside by the fences, Rick was kneeling on the ground, protectively holding Carl and Lori in his arms. He was panting heavily, while he tried to come out of his shock and tried to comprehend what was happening. His eyes scanned over the other people next to him, trying to find out if everyone was accounted for. It had all happened so fast... It took him a moment until he realized that not all of them were by his side. "Where... where's Bay? And Merle?"

Erin was cradling little Alex in her arms, both of them just as pale and shocked as the rest of them. "I... I don't know... but if they're not here.. they might be... i-in there..." she pointed towards the building with a shaky hand. Rick followed the direction with his eyes and looked at the prison again, still unable to believe what he was seeing.

The helicopter had crashed into cell block C and exploded. The cell block was destroyed and a fire was working on destructing even more of the prison. The realization made Rick spurt into action. "Water! Get buckets and water! Now, now now!"

They spurted into action, even Lori ran as fast as she could, one hand always on her pregnant belly. It might be futile, but they had to try saving the prison, and hopefully, Bay and Merle.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Uh-oh? What happened there? Thoughts?**

**Sorry if there's more typos than usual. I proof-read it, but the fact is, my son had his last two teeth come in the past week and I am damn exhausted, lol.**

**Special thank you to all the reviewers. Keep 'em coming;-)**

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	46. Chapter 47

The bus, which Daryl was driving, came to a screeching halt on the gravel road that led up to the prison gates. Nobody inside the bus dared to breathe, as they all stared at the destroyed and burning prison.

He and his scavenging group had heard the helicopter fly over Dalton. They had seen it, too, after they had all ran to the exit of the store to see what was making that much noise in this otherwise very quiet world. It was a big thing, of course, but they had a job to do and there was nothing they could do about that helicopter, so they went back inside and finished up. As soon as he had seen the black smoke rise up to the sky, he had floored it, fearing the worst. Now the worst fear was coming true... the smoke came from the prison. It looked like the helicopter had flown straight into it.

"How did this happen?" Maggie whispered horrified.

"We need to get in there." Hershel spoke up. "Now."

"What if nobody's alive to open the gate?" Glenn muttered shell-shocked.

Glenn's words jolted Daryl into action. Not giving a damn about attracting walkers, he slammed his hand down on the horn, trying to get the attention of anyone who might still be alive up there.

Up by the field, Rick heard the honks. "It's Daryl. Carl, come to the gate with me. Come on!"

Father and son ran down to the gate, making the people in the bus breathe in relief when they saw the pair approach. If those two were alive, there was a good chance that they all had been able to get out of the building before the helicopter crashed into it. Carl was distracting the walkers, while Rick slid the gate open. Daryl quickly passed through it and drove up to the scene of ungodly chaos.

"Bay!" he yelled as soon as he jumped out of the bus. "Bayanne? Where the fuck are you, woman?" his eyes hastily scanned over the people that were around him. He saw Erin launch herself into Pat's arms and expected Bay to be right behind her, but she wasn't. "Bay!"

"Daryl..." Rick came jogging up to him, so out of breath he barely got the word out.

Daryl looked like a scared animal, panting and wide-eyed and moving in a circle, looking around wildly, as the others looked on with forlorn expressions on their faces. Nobody dared to speak up. "Where is she? WHERE THE FUCK IS BAY?"

* * *

"No, no, no, no, no... Goddammit, fuck!" Merle cursed as he changed direction for the fourth time in about three seconds. The walkers were everywhere. They were surrounded, and carrying an unconscious Bay over his shoulder wasn't exactly improving his ability to fight his way through the undead. "Now'd be a good time to wake up, Missy." he grunted and stabbed another walker through the forehead with his metal contraption attached to his arm.

He had gotten them out of the prison by running back to the cafeteria and then to the spot where he had holed up with Pat and his group until Rick had shown up. From there he had used the way out through the destroyed wall at the back of the prison, which Pat and him had used to get in and out for their supply runs. None of them had been back there since Sheriff Friendly and his merry band had arrived, so now the place was crawling with walkers. Merle wanted to get to the front gate, but the damn biters kept blocking the way.

"Can't die here, not on my watch, girly. Come on! Little help would be good." Merle ground out while he kept kicking and stabbing at the walkers, all the while trying not to lose his balance and fall on his ass. If that happened, then they'd both be dead for sure. "Ah fuck it..." Merle gave up trying to get her to wake up. He tried to fight and outrun the walkers as best as he could, and when he reached the side fences, he started making a ruckus. "Hey! You hearin' me? Any of you fucking ninnies still up there? Hey!" he yelled up towards the prison as loudly as he could, trying to get someone's attention up there. It wasn't the best course of action with the walkers around, but if they wouldn't get through the gates or fences soon, it might not matter anyway.

* * *

She was in hell, she was sure of it. At the top of her head, near her forehead, she felt stabs of searing hot pain shoot throughout her skull. It felt like someone was stabbing her in the head with a hot blade. She wasn't able to see, not really, but periodically, a blazing, white light blinded her, only adding to her agony. And the voices... God, so many goddamn voices and noises...

_You're okay._

_Stay calm._

_Don't stop fighting._

_*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*_

_You're doing good._

_The baby..._

_It's gonna be okay._

_*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*_

_Not infected._

_Don't know what's gonna happen..._

_Cuff her._

_*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*_

_It's alright._

_I love you._

_Come back to me..._

_*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*_

Bay tried to talk, but nothing came out, because her throat was closed up. It hurt. Was she breathing? She didn't know. She didn't know anything anymore, except for pain and despair. She wasn't able to communicate. Nobody heard her. She kept fighting, she kept trying to scream, but to no avail. So, when she felt the darkness pull at her again, she gladly slipped back into it.

* * *

Daryl stood motionless next to the bus, his head hung low, while he tried to come to terms with the situation. Nobody knew where Bay and Merle had been when this disaster had happened, but they suspected that they had been somewhere inside the destroyed building. There was no sense in tracking them. There was nothing left to track. The debris and the fire had destroyed all traces, if there had ever been any to begin with. The fire was massive, there was no way to even enter the ruins until they had completely burnt out.

Nobody was saying anything. Nobody had said anything in the past half hour. They all simply stood and stared at the chaos and destruction in front of them, watching their new home burn down to the ground. They really weren't able to catch a break. Once again, they had lost everything. Their food from the cafeteria? Gone. Most of their guns and ammo? Gone. Most of the medical supplies they had raided from the doctor's offices, and hadn't gotten around to shuffling over to the infirmary? Gone. Their clothes and all of their personal items? Gone. It had all gone up in flames. The ammo probably hadn't helped in keeping the fire contained. If they were lucky, the fire wouldn't spread over to A block, and they would at least get to keep that and set up shop there... but when was the last time they had gotten lucky?

Lori was the first one to find her voice again. "What do we do?"

"Nothin' we can do." Rick said with defeat in his voice as he squinted up at the burning building. "We can only hope it won't spread any more."

"Guess we're sleeping out here tonight, huh?" Pat's voice was hollow. He felt empty, the reality of it all hadn't really sunken in yet.

"Yeah. I think it would be safer. Sleeping in the offices... lotta wood in there... even if we keep watch... nah,... better to stay out here, closer to the fences. We'll get the cars down here, too, in case we need to make a quick exit."

That made Lori's and Carol's jaws drop. "You think we'll have to leave?" Lori asked fearfully. Giving up the safe shelter while her pregnancy progressed? It was unimaginable.

"Maybe... I don't know." Rick shook his head, before his chin dropped to his chest. He was at a loss. He couldn't believe that this was happening. Was there truly no safe place left in this world? Suddenly he started laughing. "A helicopter... I mean,... how ridiculous is that? All this time, we try to make this place safe, safe from the walkers, and then some fucking helicopter comes crashing in? Now we gotta worry about that?"

The others looked at him like he was going insane. Lori put her hand on his arm and looked at him imploringly. "Rick... stop..."

"No, I mean, seriously, Lori... Who's prepar-"

"HEEEY! HEEEY! ANY OF YOU FUCKING PUSSIES UP THERE? I COULD USE A HAND HERE! IN CASE YA DON'T KNOW, I ONLY GOT ONE!"

Daryl's head snapped up so fast, he almost gave himself whiplash, when he heard his brother's distinctive voice. "Merle..." he ran around the bus, along with Pat and Rick, then they all let their gaze travel along the fences, trying to spot the older Dixon brother.

"There!" Pat saw him first. He nudged Daryl and pointed in the Merle's direction.

Daryl's stomach dropped to the ground when he saw that Merle was carrying a limp figure over his shoulder. His crossbow dropped to the ground as he took off into a run at lightning speed. "**BAY! BAY!**" he screamed his lungs out while he ran like he was mad at the ground, with Rick, Pat and Glenn and Maggie in hot pursuit. Rick had the keys and tried to keep up with Daryl, but the adrenalin in the hunter's body made him run faster than the rest of them. He slammed against the door, rattling at it, like he would be able to pull it open with his bare hands, despite it being locked, all the while screaming for Rick, to "hurry the fuck up."

They were headed for the spot where they had cut the fence open, the very first time they had entered the prison grounds. Daryl arrived their first and frantically started to loosen the wire they had used to close up the gap. His eyes constantly shifted back and forth between the approaching walkers, Bay, and the task at hand.

"Come on, come on, come on." Merle urged him on, eager to get to the other side of the fence. At least Rick, Pat and Glenn were picking off the dangerously close walkers through the fence, so that he only had to take care of those that were coming at them from behind.

"Is she alive?" Daryl's voice was shaky, just as much as his fingers were.

"Dunno... but she was..." Merle replied before stabbing another walker through the eye. "Get a move on, man!"

"Done." Daryl parted the fence as far as it would go, while Merle crouched down until Bay's feet hit the ground. Daryl grabbed for her, and Merle let her drop into his younger brother's arms. Together they carefully maneuvered her through the fence. Daryl dropped to his knees, then he sat down in the gravel. He pulled Bay between his spread legs and cradled her like a baby, supporting her head in the crook of his arm. He started shaking when he looked at her. Her face and her white top were covered in blood and the sight was unsettling. Merle knew carrying her upside down had been a bad idea, but there hadn't been another option. Daryl quickly pressed his index and middle finger against her pulse point, letting out a little sob when he felt a faint, but even thumping. "Bay... Baby girl... Can ya hear me?"

Maggie was suddenly right there with him, pressing her ear against Bay's chest. "Heartbeat is steady, she's breathing, but she needs help."

"She's gon' need the farmer to patch her up." Merle informed the men.

Rick nodded and looked up to the burning building. The infirmary, thankfully, hadn't been destroyed. Not yet, at least. "Pat, Glenn, get into the infirmary and clean it out. All the medical supplies and meds we still have in there, get it all out, before it goes up in flames, too."

"You got it." Pat said under his breath, then he dashed back up to the prison with Glenn.

"Daryl, we have to get her to Hershel, come on." Rick carefully lifted Bay out of Daryl's arms, so the hunter could get back up. Rick started walking with Bay in his arms, but as soon as Daryl was back on his feet, he quickly stopped the leader. "Hey!" he lifted Bay back into his own arms. "She's mine." he snarled quietly before he made his way back up to the group as fast as he was able to walk.

* * *

"_Annie..."_

"_Mamaw Eva?" Bay smiled when she heard her grandmother call out for her. Only her grandma had ever used to call her that name. She felt warm and comforted, and she realized, that she was laying on her mamaw's old couch, with her head in Eva's lap, like she had used to do when she had been younger._

"_You keep choosing the wrong path, sweetheart. We've been here before. Do you remember?" Eva gently stroked her fingers through Bay's thick locks. _

_A frown furrowed Bay's brows. "No... I haven't seen you in so long, mamaw."_

"_You have... not long ago, Annie. You don't remember, hm? You probably don't have a sense of time either. It's okay. It will be okay, as long as you finally choose the right path, sweetheart."_

"_I am choosing the right path."_

"_No, you're not, Bayanne. You cannot go back there. That world keeps pushing you out. It keeps trying to kill you. There's a reason for that, don't you see? It's because you don't belong there. It's not the right path. You need to find it, and fast."_

"_I don't know how. I just want to go back." Bay suddenly felt confused and helpless. She no longer felt warm, she started to get cold and she felt the pain starting back up in her head. "No,... please, not again."_

_*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*_

"_No." Bay cried._

"_Yes. Be strong, Bayanne."_

"_I can't... please, make it stop. No... please..." her throat started to close up again, making her start to panic. She yelped when Eva's hand in her hair clenched into a fist and her mamaw yanked her head up hard._

"_Endure the pain! The pain will show you the right way." Eva was raising her voice, while Bay whimpered in agony._

_*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*_

"_No, please. Stop."_

"_Sometimes we have to suffer to get rewarded. You have to take it. It won't be forever. Endure it and you'll find peace again. Find the right path!"_

_The blinding, white light was back, making her head pound so much worse, but just like the times before, she wasn't able to scream. Bay fought, she tried to close her eyes, but it was like they were glued open. She tried to claw at her throat, she tried pushing her hands against her forehead, she tried reaching for her grandmother, but her hands wouldn't move._

_*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*_

_The voices were back. She knew the voices, but she wasn't to distinguish between them, wasn't able to say who was talking. They kept saying the same over and over again. She was okay. She had to keep fighting. They loved her. They were well-meaning words, but Bay wanted them to shut up. They hurt her. She needed quiet. She wasn't able to take it. The pain was too much. It seemed to go on for an eternity this time, before she felt the darkness creep up on her again. Eva had told her to be strong and fight, but this was hell and she wasn't strong enough to get through this, so once more, she let herself be swallowed up whole by the black cloud, making her agony end._

* * *

They had quickly set up a freshly looted mattress at the back of the bus, so Hershel would be able to work on Bay.

"Turn around." Daryl commanded Hershel, after he had put Bay down on that mattress.

"Turn around? Son, I need to take a look at that head wound."

"I gotta do somethin' first, won't take a minute, so just fucking turn around, alright?"

Hershel wasn't pleased with the way Daryl was talking to him, but he knew the young man was scared to death, so he let it slide for once. "Fine."

Daryl watched the old man turn his back on them, then he quickly yanked open Bay's pants, and slid the zipper down. He took one last look at Hershel, making sure his back was still turned, then he slid his hands into Bay's panties, all the way down, until his fingers met her opening. He moved his fingertips around in a circle once, then he pulled his hand back out and held his fingers up to his face. _No blood._

When Bay had had her miscarriage, there had been lots of blood, that's what she had told him. They didn't know if she was pregnant, but just in case, he took this as a good sign. There was no blood, so if he had knocked her up, the baby might still be doing fine. He buttoned her pants back up and stepped aside. "I'm done. Go ahead."

He sat down on the other side and held on to Bay's hand while Hershel examined and treated the nasty gash on her head. Daryl pressed his lips against her knuckles and kept staring at her as he prayed for her to be okay. _Come on, baby girl. Wake up. Come back to me._

* * *

The fire died down during the night, leaving A-block unharmed, but in the early morning hours, a new problem became apparent to Rick, who was keeping watch.

"Fuck..." he cursed when at dawn, he spied a gigantic dark mass approaching the prison. A herd. Even bigger than the one that had destroyed the farm. He should have thought of that. Of course the noise from the helicopter and the explosion had led the undead straight to them. A herd that big, if they all pushed up against the fences, which they would, the fences would come down. There was no way to get out of there by car. They were fucked. _I should have known this... We could have gotten out of here yesterday. We __**should **__have gotten out of here yesterday._

Daryl was unaware of what was going on outside the bus. He was laying next to Bay, having fallen asleep sometime during the night, despite having been fully intent on staying up and watching her closely throughout the night. He had only been sleeping lightly, though. As soon as he felt movement next to him, he jolted awake.

"Bay?"

She grunted quietly and winced at the throbbing headache she was waking up with.

"Babe? Can ya hear me?"

"Why are you yelling?" she groaned and slowly blinked her eyes open.

Daryl let out a relieved laugh. He hadn't yelled at all, but for her sake, he spoke even more quietly. "Was nowhere near yellin', sweetheart. Gotta headache from hell, huh?"

"Mhm." she nodded, immediately regretting it right after. "Is Merle okay?"

Daryl felt his heart swell and fill with warmth. That was his Bay in a nutshell. She pretty much despised the guy, but her first instinct was to make sure that he was alright. He couldn't help himself, he had to kiss her. "He's fine." he smiled after he had broken the kiss. "Just got a couple of bumps and bruises on him. Whaddaya remember?"

"I was in the tombs with him. We were talking. I heard something and went to check it out. Saw a helicopter and then it was just pain and noise and..." she trailed off when she remembered something else. "I saw my grandma. How long was I out?"

"Less than a day." Daryl frowned. "Yer grandma? Ya mean, when ya were passed out?"

"I think so, yes..." she stared up at the ceiling of the bus as more and more things came back to her. "I don't belong here..." she whispered, making Daryl's frown deepen.

"What?"

"She said I keep choosing the wrong path. That I don't belong here."

"Wrong path? Wrong path for what? Shit, Bay, don't pay attention to that crap. You hit your head, that's all. We got other things to worry about. All our shit is gone."

"What do you mean?"

"Get up! Everybody get up! NOW!" Before Daryl was able to reply, Rick's urgent words reached their ears.

"What now?" Daryl sighed and sat up. "Stay put. Don't move." he left the bus, and as soon as he did, he no longer had to ask what was going on now. "Good Lord..."

Rick was suddenly next to him. "We gotta leave now. Make our exit through one of the side fences, while we still can."

"Ya mean bust through 'em with the bus?"

"No. We have to leave on foot. There's no way to get through that with a vehicle."

"Bay woke up five minutes ago. She ain't ready to walk, man, much less run and fight."

"She doesn't have a choice. We can't stay here. Not right now. We can try coming back in a day or two, check how it's looking, but staying here while they waltz through is too risky, Daryl."

"There's nowhere we can go, Rick. Not even the woods are safe with those fuckers rolling through."

"We have to stay ahead of them, try to circle around them until they're in front of us. We have to try, but we have to get going right now. Get Bay. Get ready. We don't have a choice." Rick left him standing there to go and get his own family travel ready. They were losing valuable time with every second they wasted talking.

"Daryl? Where are we?" Bay was frowning while she stared at the ceiling of the bus, when Daryl got back to her.

"Listen, sweetheart. The prison burnt down. A lot of it. All our shit is gone. All our supplies. A herd's comin'. Too big for the fences to keep out. We gotta run, so I need ya to get up, alright?"

Bay was way too confused to understand all of that, and it had Daryl starting to panic on the inside. "Run? Where? What's going on now?"

"Walkers are comin', Bay. We need to go. Right now. We can't hide out here. If they don't blaze through and stay around, we're trapped, alright? We need ta go." Daryl pulled her up, wincing right along with her, when pain shot through her when she moved. But the pain brought her a little bit of clarity.

"Daryl, I don't know if I can. I don't feel good."

"Baby, I know. But I need you to. You can. You're strong. You can do it. I'm with ya all the way." he held her face gently cradled between his hands while he implored her to be strong for him and for herself. He kissed her, a long, long kiss, then he looked into her eyes one last time, not liking at all how dazed she looked, before he took her hand and pulled her out of the bus.

They all ran to the fence farthest away from the core of the herd, but still, there were a ton of stragglers that were preventing them from having a clear path. One way or another, they had to fight their way through. The kids and women were in the middle, with Beth and Maggie holding and dragging a barely conscious Bay between them, while the men formed a tight circle all around them. This way, they had all sides covered, but that didn't mean that it was an easy fight. And to make matters worse, the sky cracked open and it started pouring, turning the ground around the prison into a slippery mud pit.

"Daryl, on your right!"

"Watch out, watch out."

"Hershel!"

"Incoming."

"I got it."

"Pat, 2 o'clock! Get him!"

"Man down! Fucking rain!"

"Merle, cover Glenn."

They sliced, they stabbed, they pushed and they kicked, slowly killing walker after walker on their way into the woods. It was an uphill battle. More and more walkers came at them, it simply didn't stop. Beth and Maggie had their own trouble, trying to keep Bay up on her feet. She kept slipping and falling to her knees, and after an hour she was so weak, that she was barely able to get up again.

"Rick. She can't do this much longer." Maggie called out to their leader, making Daryl shoot a worried glance over his shoulder.

"We don't have a choice, Maggie. We have to keep moving."

In that moment, Bay moaned loudly and dropped to her knees again. The others didn't know what was going on, but she was having another one of the pain attacks. She saw nothing but blinding white light and felt nothing but pain. She wasn't able to get up this time.

"Bay! Bay, please. You have to get up." Maggie begged, but to no avail.

"Maggie." Daryl shouldered his crossbow and left formation. "Take my spot. I got her." He quickly lifted Bay into his arms. It was not an easy task with her squirming while she was whimpering in pain. Daryl wanted to scream. He had a bad feeling... a really bad feeling. One he was trying to ignore, but it kept creeping up on him, slowly invading every single fiber of his being, and it had him shaking internally.

Dale pushed another walker back with his rifle, leaving it up to Merle to stab it. "We're never gonna make it like this, Rick."

Rick knew that, but he barely had a second to think about their options right now. However, Glenn didn't seem to have the same problem. "Rick, remember Atlanta?"

"Which part?"

"The part where we covered ourselves in walker blood and blended in!"

"I remember the part when the rain washed it all off in the worst moment." Rick shouted back, making hope deflate inside the younger man.

"Shit, you're right. Sorry."

"When it stops raining, we'll try." Rick sent Glenn a quick nod, showing his appreciation for the idea. It might work and it might saves their lives, but they had to wait until it stopped raining. _God knows if all of us make it until then._

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Are you confused by this chapter? Did it maybe feel a bit trippy? Fear not, there's a reason for that and the answers will be in the next chapter. **

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	47. Chapter 48

**IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!**

**This is NOT THE LAST CHAPTER!**

**Also, I suggest you read this chapter slowly and pay attention to the formatting (italics). It might be less confusing. There are no errors in the formatting. I made sure of that. Everything is the way it's supposed to be and there for a reason:) Enjoy!**

* * *

_Not infected. _

_Ya hear that?_

_You're okay. _

Bay scoffed weakly, barely shaking her head, where it rested against Daryl's shoulder, while he gave her a piggy back ride. "Yeah, I heard him, but we're all infected. You're wrong." she slurred quietly.

"Sweetheart? Who's wrong? What are you talking about?" Daryl asked her.

"He keeps saying I'm not infected, but he's wrong."

"Who? Who keeps saying that?" No answer "Bay? Who says you're not infected?"

"Rick."

"Rick hasn't said anything in a while, baby girl..." Daryl frowned worriedly and shared a concerned look with their leader.

"She's keeps passing out... saying these things in between..." Rick sighed forlornly.

"Her head trauma is extensive. Way more than I thought. There was no way to tell without a scan." Hershel explained in his slow, drawn-out manner. "Nothing we can do... at the prison, we might have been able to save her life, but now..." he trailed off and took a deep breath, trying not to cry while they were still outside and vulnerable.

"Shut up. She's fine." Daryl was lashing out, because he was terrified of what was going to happen. He knew that she was absolutely **not** fine. Now that she was starting to hallucinate and get delirious, he wasn't able to ignore the ugly truth anymore. But even though he wasn't able to ignore it, he was still able to deny it to some degree. "She just needs to rest. She's dehydrated. We gotta make our way to one of 'em cabins we talked about, then we can take proper care of her."

Rick didn't see a reason to get into an argument with Daryl right now. It wouldn't help anything. They had to stick together, because their situation couldn't be much bleaker at the moment, and all they had left was each other. Therefore he nodded in agreement, then he addressed the others. "You know the drill. You see somethin' edible, you grab it." he instructed, while they kept trekking through the thicket.

Pat, Merle and Daryl knew the woods surrounding Dalton, like they knew the back of their hands. That was their luck, because they knew where the cabins were located. Unfortunately it had still taken them roughly two whole days to get away from that massive herd. They had been like sheep, having to change direction constantly to avoid lengthy fights with the mindless, flesh-eating shepherds. They were all getting weaker, hungrier and thirstier, and their feet hurt, but the hope of finding shelter soon made them pull themselves together once more. The men were taking turns carrying Bay, Daryl shot a squirrel here and there, and everybody was gathering berries and grapes whenever they saw some. After another hour of walking, they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, this time in form of a wooden cabin.

"Alright!" Pat was grinning from ear to ear. "Remember this place, D?"

"Sure do." Daryl grunted in a strained voice. He wasn't able to share Pat's enthusiasm. He was happy they would have shelter for the night, but he was too worried about Bay to be breaking out into a victory dance.

They broke into the abandoned house, where Carol ushered Lori to the couch, so the pregnant woman would be able to put her feet up and rest. Daryl carried Bay into the tiny bedroom and carefully deposited her on the bed. She was out cold, once again, but that didn't stop him from trying to get her re-hydrated. He unscrewed the top of his canteen, then he gently lifted her head and slowly poured little sips of water into her mouth. He wasn't sure how much good it would do, but he had to try.

* * *

_*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*_

"_Almost there, Annie." Mamaw Eva smiled down at Bay. "The pain is gone, isn't it?"_

"_Yeah, it is." Bay murmured sleepily._

"_That's because you started to accept it. You endured it. You stopped fighting it." Eva leaned down and softly kissed Bay's temple. "Good things are coming to you, my beautiful girl. I promise. You're on a good way. You're on the right path now."_

"_I never wanted to give up..."_

"_You didn't give up. You're doing the opposite. I told you that you kept choosing the wrong path. You kept fighting to get back to them. That was the wrong fight. You're fighting the right fight now. You have my word. It won't be much longer."_

"_I know." Bay nodded. _

She felt it in her bones. Her time was almost up. Eva was right about Bay having accepted it. Over the course of the past days, while drifting in and out of consciousness and being a burden to the group, Bay had accepted her fate, and ever since she had, the pain had lessened with each attack. The blinding white light was still uncomfortable, but it no longer hurt her. She started to perceive the beeping noise as almost calming. A bit like a countdown of sorts, telling her that it was almost time to let go completely. She was starting to be able to distinguish the voices. It was Daryl, Hershel, Rick, Lori, Erin, Pat, Beth,... all of them. They were inside her head. They were with her. Maybe her imagination having mercy on her. Making her imagine that her friends and loved ones were guiding her, making it easier, making her feel not so alone during the last moments. Her throat still hurt, but she was able to make noises. Maybe she would be able to say goodbye now. Maybe she would be able to talk to them while the white light would consume her. That's what she assumed would happen. People always talked about a white light when they were close to death.

Not much longer now.

_*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*_

* * *

Bay woke up about an hour after they had gotten to the cabin. Daryl was by her side, gently stroking her face with his fingertips when she came to. "Ya need ta eat, baby girl. Some berries, yeah?"

"No..." Bay refused with a weak shake of her head. "The kids... Lori... need it more."

"Right now **you **need it more." Daryl insisted. "And ya know that ya might be knocked up, too."

In a (recently) rare moment of clarity, Bay looked up at Daryl and tried to give him a comforting smile. "Even if I am, it doesn't matter anymore. We both know that... We know what's gonna happen... You know it... I can see it all over your face."

"Stop."

"No. We can't run from this. It's happening. Don't waste our last moments together with being in denial."

"Jesus, Bay..." Daryl sighed shakily. "How the fuck did we end up here?"

"Series of unfortunate events."

Daryl scoffed at that as tears started to pool in his eyes and run down his cheeks. "Should have taken you with us to the store. Shouldn't have let ya out of my sight."

"It wouldn't have made a difference. Mamaw Eva said something and she was right. This world keeps pushing me out one way or another. It will keep trying, because I'm not supposed to be here. I don't belong here."

"It wasn't real, Bay. The woman's been dead for 12 years. You belong here. With me. You're mine, Bay. You belong with me and I'm here,... so you fucking belong here."

"It wasn't the same, though, was it?" Bay smiled with tears of her own glistening in her eyes. "We love each other very much, but we weren't able to get back what we used to have. Something was different. Too different."

"That why ya ain't fighting no more? 'Cause it ain't the same it used ta be and you don't like that?" Daryl lashed out slightly. He was angry at the world and he felt so damn helpless sitting there, watching Bay slowly slip away from him.

No. You know that's not true. It's just my time to go, Daryl. It's okay. I'm not scared. You're with me, in here..." she tapped her fingers against her head, " and in here." she tapped her heart next. "It's okay... I'm ready." She really was. She was at peace with what was happening. She was also relieved that the fight for survival would be over. She wasn't happy that she was leaving Daryl behind, but like she had told him, it was her time to go.

"You're ready... That's great..." he cried with sarcasm dripping from his words. "But what if **I** ain't ready? Can't let ya go, Bay. Just can't."

"You have to. You don't have a choice."

"Fuck, baby girl..." his voice cracked and he finally broke down into sobs. His broad shoulders shook as his head hung between them, with his chin on his chest as his sadness and desperation overwhelmed him and made him cry uncontrollably for a little while. Bay put her hand on his knee and tried to console him, but she knew it was not helping. Daryl eventually slipped off the bed, kneeling on the floor and covering her torso with his. Hugging her to him with all his might, while he hid his face in the crook of her neck and wet her skin with his hot, salty tears.

Bay weakly wrapped her arms around his shaking form and rested her mouth against his ear. "I love you so much, Daryl. Always will, I promise." her words were slightly slurred, because unconsciousness was tugging at her again, pulling her back into the darkness.

"Bay, please... please..."

His pleading was the last thing she heard before she passed out again. She didn't hear how much longer he begged for her to live. It broke the heart of everyone who was close enough to hear, even Merle's. Daryl was his little brother and he loved him. He didn't enjoy seeing him suffer. Losing his girl for the second time, this time forever, was sure to make him hurt for a good, long time.

* * *

Another couple of hours later, Hershel lifted his head from Bay's chest, after he had checked her breathing, and looked at Daryl with sad eyes. Bay stopped breathing more frequently now. He knew she would stop drawing air into her lungs altogether very, very soon. "It's almost over."

"That s'pposed to help me?" Daryl grunted despondently.

"No, but it will help her. It's good that she's going quick."

"If you can call 2 days quick...then yeah... Ain't even been able to give her nothin' for the damn pain."

"I don't think she feels it anymore. She's too far gone already."

"When's it stop hurtin'?" Daryl asked quietly, referring to his own pain, which hadn't even really, fully set in yet, but already, he was ready to crumble.

"It never stops, Daryl. It will get better over time, but it will never truly stop hurting." Hershel explained and carefully smoothed some hair out of Bay's forehead. Then he got up and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "I love you, Bayanne. We all do. Thank you for everything you gave us."

Hershel said his goodbyes. And he wasn't the only one. One by one they came in, sat with her for a while, often in silence, most of them crying and kissing her face, before they left the room. It was killing Daryl, because having everyone say goodbye to her made it unbearably real. This was no dream, not this time. She was leaving him. If she was pregnant, then **both** of them were leaving him. Again... He didn't know how to go on after today. He didn't know if he would survive this time, but he didn't even care. All he wanted, was to be with her. So once everybody had said goodbye, Daryl climbed into bed with her, wrapped himself around her completely, and held her, hoping she would know that he was there until the very last second.

* * *

_*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*_

"_Remember when we went to this cabin for Sam's birthday party?" Daryl asked her, making her smile when she heard his voice. The white light was back and she knew that this was it. She was so happy that Daryl's voice would be the last thing she would ever hear... that he was the one who was with her in this moment. "Well, we didn't exactly go, we kinda broke in... You remember that?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_Dunno why that party popped into my head today, but there was this guy..."_

"_Benjamin Kennish." Bay finished his sentence with a laugh._

"_Benjamin fucking Kennish... Wouldn't leave ya alone."_

_*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*_

"_He wasn't so bad." Bay smiled. _

"_He was alright. But carryin' a big fat torch for you. I mean, can't blame the guy, but it was damn annoying. Kept stayin' close to ya the whole night."_

"_I was with the girls, that's why... Wouldn't have dared if you would have been with me the whole time."_

_*beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep*_

"_You were with the girls, but I was close enough to hear what he said. How he told ya he regretted never having spoken up. That he always wanted ya to be **his **girlfriend..."_

"_I've known him since kindergarten... was never like that. Not for me."_

"_He said you should give him a call if you and I ever broke up, you remember that?"_

"_Yeah."_

"_And then came that moment that sealed shit for me. You told him that would never happen, because you and I would never break up... The way you said it... In front of everybody... the way ya looked... I knew ya meant it... I felt it... Can't explain it, but it meant the fucking world, ya know?"_

_*beepbeepbeepbeepbeep_beepbeepbeepbeepbeep_*_

"I know." Bay smiled and heard the beeping noise get louder and clearer, while the light got even lighter. This was it, she knew it. She stepped towards the light, but then she heard a gasp. She didn't know why, but it confused her. It made her stop, and stare at the white light with a frown.

"Bay?"

"Yes?" she was even more confused when she realized how horse and croaky her voice sounded.

Another gasp. "Holy shit... did you just... did you just say something? Bay? Baby girl, can ya hear me?"

"Yes." she forced out as confusion took over even more.

"Oh God, you're awake... " she heard him breathe in awe, shortly before she heard his voice again, but this time it wasn't right next to her. "Nurse! Nurse! She's awake!"

She heard footsteps and she heard more voices. "Step aside, sweetie. Give us some room." she heard a familiar female voice say.

And then, all of a sudden, the light flashed even brighter in her eyes, making her wince for a second, before she started blinking and her eyes started focusing. The white light started morphing into something different. Still white, and there was still light, but she started to realize, that it was a white ceiling, with a fluorescent lamp attached to it. A face appeared in her line of vision, a round and pale, but friendly and female face. The woman's voice was familiar, but her face was not. "Welcome back, Sleeping Beauty." The woman smiled.

Bay frowned even more, blinking several more times before she startled, when another face appeared, this time the one of a man. "My name is Dr. Rick Grimes. You're at Hamilton Medical in Dalton."

_Rick?! _Bay stared at the man with wide eyes. He sounded like Rick, but he didn't look like Rick at all. This Rick Grimes was a young, sandy blonde and overweight doctor with brown, horn-rimmed glasses. That's when she realized that the female voice she had heard, had been Carol's voice. Her eyes dashed over to the nurse and Bay squinted at her name tag. _Nurse Carol... What the hell?_

"Do you remember your name?" Dr. Grimes asked.

"Bayanne Moore."

"Do you know what year it is?"

"2010... no wait, 2011 by now?" Bay croaked out, making Dr. Grimes and Nurse Carol share a look.

"Miss Moore, it's still 1999. You and many others were victims of a drive-by shooting downtown in front of the medical building. We placed you in a medically induced coma to give your injuries a chance to heal better. You were only asleep for a week." Dr. Grimes explained. "Do you remember any of that?"

Bay wasn't really able to answer. She had no idea what was happening. Was this a dream? Was this heaven? Or hell? "Murray bridge... I had an accident on Murray bridge..."

"Murray bridge?" Daryl spoke up from somewhere behind the nurse. "Baby girl, you ain't been out of Dalton in weeks... Nowhere near Murray Bridge..."

"Daryl? What's happening?" she tried to look past the nurse, until finally, she stepped aside to make room for Daryl. When he stepped up to the bed with a teary-eyed smile, Bay looked at him like he'd grown three heads. "How's this possible?" she whispered in shock. Daryl had long and shaggy blond hair, he was fresh faced, pale, no wrinkles and no facial hair... younger... He looked exactly like he had the morning he had dropped her off in front of the medical building. He even wore the same clothes... "What is going on?"

"You got shot, baby girl. They did surgery on ya and then put ya in this coma a week ago. They started lettin' ya wake up yesterday, but ya put up a good fight. Wanted to sleep some more, I reckon." Daryl laughed and quickly wiped at a tear that had escaped his right eye. "Was a damn long week. Shit, sweetheart, it's so good ta see ya with yer eyes open."

"But... Rick... Carol... the group. We were at the prison. Helicopter came... it's 2011... or 2010... I don't know... I was dying..." Bay uttered helplessly. She had no idea what was real and what not.

The nurse smiled and gently squeezed her hand. "Just a coma dream. You weren't in a 'real' coma. The drugs made you sleep for a week, and people who sleep, dream. It's okay. It will all come back to you soon." Nurse Carol squeezed her hand once more, before she addressed Daryl. "This is a normal reaction. She's confused. It might take a while until she understands that the dreams weren't real and that this is actually the reality. It's not scientifically proven, but a lot of patients report that the induced coma was like a nightmare they hadn't been able to wake up from."

Daryl paled even more at that. This was the first time he had heard about that little fact. "You sayin' she had nightmares 24/7 for a whole week?"

"It's possible. We'll know more tomorrow, I'm sure."

The doctor cleared his throat. "Alright, Miss Moore. You're vitals look good. We'll talk some more about your injuries when your head cleared up some more. We'll be back to check on you soon."

"She can have some water, but slow sips, okay?" She handed Daryl a plastic cup with a straw in it, before she left with the doctor.

"You left..." Bay mumbled.

"What?"

"You left with Merle. He got in trouble, took my money and you both left."

"No." Daryl told her in a gentle voice as he finally took her hand in his. "You must have dreamed it, sweetheart."

"I lost everything."

"You didn't. Nothing happened. I'm here. Ain't seen Merle since before the shooting, but your money's still here. It's at our place... safe and sound."

"The apartment? I still have it?"

"Yes. It's like the doctor said. It's been a week. I dropped you off at the gynecologist. You wanted to get birth control, remember? Next thing I know there's reports about shots fired on the radio."

"You never left?"

"Nah. Been here all week. I would never leave ya, Bay. Never." he promised and pulled her hand up to his oh so damn soft lips. No scratchy facial hair, just smooth soft lips pressing against the back of her hand. And just like that, Bay spontaneously burst into tears as the overwhelming reality crashed down on her. It had all been just a horrible nightmare.

* * *

"_**It was one ongoing nightmare that I couldn't awake from... It took me MUCH longer to heal from the imagery in that coma than it did from the physical injuries."**_

_**-former coma patient**_

* * *

**Thank you for reading! And OMG please tell me what you think!**

**I'm hella nervous about this one, lol.**

**To the ones who are still a little confused and want clarification: Yes, the ZA was just Bay's coma dream. Everything from the moment Daryl drops her off for her doctor's appointment in Chapter 21 on, was just Bay dreaming in her medically induced coma. It was always the plan to have the story "end" in the real (or in this case, AU) world again and have it all just be a coma dream. (Yes, I briefly wrote His Walls 2.0, because I was so frustrated with the show that I no longer wanted to write ZA, but I returned to the original plan after a little break.) The revelation now happened a lot sooner than I thought, due to me going back to work much sooner than I thought. **

**More questions will be answered in the next chapter(s)**

**Once again, this is NOT THE LAST CHAPTER. I know a lot of readers jumped ship during the last 2 or 3 chapters, but thank you to for reading that far, and thank you to everyone who is still on board and still enjoys this story. I promise there will be smut again soon;-)**

**Special thanks to **

**DarylDixon'sLover**

**butrrfly023 (You knew this would happen, right?;-) )**

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**krissyg49**

** AkariWolfPrincess (I can never write the dots, because FFnet turns it into a link and edits it out)  
**


	48. Chapter 49

"Shhhhh, it's alright. It's alright, sweetheart. Love ya. So damn happy you're awake..." Daryl cooed against her hair. "It's gonna be okay, hm? Gonna take care of ya." he mumbled soothingly, and gently put his index finger under her chin to tilt her face up. He lowered his head and pressed the most loving of kisses against Bay's slightly dry lips, releasing a small moan at the contact.

Bay wept bitterly against his mouth. A sense of coming home washed over her with the feel of Daryl's wonderfully luscious, soft lips against her own. "This is real, this is real, this is real." she whispered repeatedly against his lips, trying to convince herself that it was true. Deep down she knew it was true, because even though kissing the dream-version of Daryl hadn't exactly felt wrong, something had always been kind of amiss. But not so right now. This was real. This was right. This felt whole.

"This **is **real, baby girl." Daryl promised in a fierce whisper. "What happened? Did ya have nightmares?"

"Shhhh, please... I don't wanna go back there. I don't wanna remember... I need you." she murmured before she pressed her lips against his again, long, hard and desperate. She clung to him, trying to press herself as close against his body as possible. She wasn't actually just clinging to him... she was clawing at him. Her fingertips dug painfully into his chest, his shoulders and his back, wherever she was able to reach, out of fear that she might get ripped away from him again. Daryl didn't complain. He didn't even wince. He figured she must have had pretty bad nightmares, if she was so scared "to go back there". He didn't care about a little pain, all he cared about was comforting her, and giving her a sense of being safe again.

They kissed for long, long minutes. Daryl tried to hug her and hold her in his arms, but it wasn't an easy feat with the ten thousand IV's and wires attached to her. He couldn't wait to take her home and care for her there. "How do ya feel? Do you need anythin'? Anythin' at all?" Daryl asked after pulling away from her lips, in order to suck some much needed oxygen into his lugs.

"I only need you. To be home with you." Bay sniffled and wiped at her tears with the heel of her right hand. "But my head hurts..."

Daryl frowned at that. "Thought there was painkillers in one of 'em damn bags." he murmured, almost to himself, while he looked up at the IV bags.

"It's been hurting in my dream, too."

"Gonna buzz the nurse, alright?"

"No, not yet, please. It's okay for now. I wanna be alone some more... with you, I mean." Bay quickly begged. She didn't want to hear Carol's voice right now. Or Rick's for that matter. She didn't want to go back to that horrible nightmare just yet.

"What happened in that dream?" Daryl asked again, not quite able to let it go, but only because he wanted to help her, because she seemed so scared by that dream.

"It was a nightmare. One long nightmare. We were all in there. You, me, Pat, Erin... It was the apocalypse. The dead came back to life as zombies. They tore people apart and ate them alive... It was so real. We were all older... like, 30 years old... The dream started when I was 19 and when I woke up just now, I was 30... I went through 11 years... I don't know... I... please, Daryl. I can't... I don't wanna talk about it. Not yet. I wanna forget for now. I need to make myself believe that this is real." she was starting to cry harder again, when some horrible images came back to her.

Daryl quickly lowered his head and kissed her. "It's alright. Don't have to talk about it. I promise." he saw how much it hurt her to even think about it, so he decided to back off. At the same time he tried to process the little it of information she had given him. He had dreamed about zombies a couple of times in his life. It happened, most people shook it off. He was sure after a couple of days, she would be able to do that, as well. He didn't understand what to make of her statement about how she had gone through 11 years... _'s only been 7 days... _Daryl didn't know it in this moment, but he would never be able to understand what Bay had gone through. And he wouldn't be the only one. Nobody, who hadn't had a similar experience, was able to understand what that dream had felt like to Bay. That she literally felt like she had lived 11 years into the future.

She tried to focus on something else, but one last thing popped into her head, making her heart stop beating for a second, as she looked at him with wide eyes. "Daryl... the doctor... before the accident... or shooting... he wasn't sure, but he said, there was a chance I might be pregnant. A-am I?"

Slowly, the biggest grin appeared on Daryl's face. "Yeah..." he pulled her hand up to his face and kissed the back of it. "Gon' have ourselves a baby, sweetheart." When the doctor had told him that the pregnancy was still intact, Daryl hadn't even batted an eyelash. After she had told him that her belly felt weird, the morning of the shooting, he'd had a feeling she might be pregnant. He wasn't able to explain it, but deep down, he'd felt it, which was why he hadn't been surprised at all, when the doctor had dropped that bombshell. Even though they had agreed that they would wait a couple of years, because it was way too soon to have one right now, Daryl was ecstatic.

"I am?" her eyes grew large and she looked at him with a hope-filled expression. "And it's alright? The shooting and everything..."

"The docs said, that as far as they can tell, everything looks normal. Are ya happy?"

"Yes." Bay nodded vigorously, then quickly stopped when her neck started smarting.

"Careful." Daryl let his hand hover over the large bandage on the left side of her neck.

"I know it's not what we wanted, but... I'm not getting rid of it. I want it." Bay stated decisively, making Daryl look at her a little appalled for a second.

"Get rid of it? Are ya crazy?"

"So,... you want it, too?"

"Yeah." that adorable grin was back. "I know we didn't plan it, but shit,... I'm damn ready for it. I know that we can do it, ya know?"

"Yeah." Bay agreed with a wistful smile. She remembered their talks about the baby from her dream, how they had kept saying that they would have been able to make it work. Now they would get to do it, and just like Daryl, she knew they would be able to.

"You okay, baby girl?"

"I am. I just need some time to process everything."

"Yeah." Daryl nodded and gently kissed the tip of her nose. "You're gon' be fine. Imma pamper the shit outta you."

"Thank you. I love you. I love you so much, Daryl. I never said it enough. That will change..."

Daryl smiled widely when he heard her say that. "Ain't gonna complain about that. Love it when ya say it." he sighed and kissed her again, before he looked at her happily. "Man, can't believe you're awake. Been the longest week ever. "

"Do I still have my jobs?"

"Course you do. Willy got another girl to help out, while ya can't work, but she's just a temp. Job is yours again, as soon as you're ready."

"And Shoney's?"

"Same. Pat's ex, Jessa, she stepped in for ya."

"Really?" Bay looked at him in surprise. Jessa and her hadn't really been on the best of terms in the past couple of months, she never would have expected her to step in and help her out.

"Yeah. Everyone was real shocked. 'Bout what happened, I mean. Everybody wanted to pitch in and help out. And ya know what? The whole thing's got Pat and Jessa talking again. Might get back together. He really wants to." Daryl reported with that tiny smile of his.

"That would be nice. He really loves her."

"Yeah. I still don't like her much, though. That bad?"

"I don't think so. Can't like everybody." Bay sighed and finally laid back to rest a little more. She was tired, but she didn't want to sleep. She was too scared of dreaming again. "When can I go home? Did they say?"

"Yeah. They said, if everything looks good, you can leave a couple of days after waking up. Like, 4 days or so."

"Good. I just want to go home and get my life back." Bay mustered a little smile.

"Imma go huntin' with my uncle before ya get back. Fill up the fridge and the pantry."

"Nice." Bay's smile grew a bit larger. "I can't wait to cook for you. Do normal things."

Daryl's features were marred by a slight frown. "Normal things? When did ya do not normal things?"

Bay lightly shook her head and sighed again. "Sorry... the dream was so damn vivid. Feels like ages since I've been home and cooked for you."

The doctor came in and interrupted them. Bay was barely able to follow the conversation. The fact that he sounded like dream-Rick, but didn't look like dream-Rick, was really irking her and fucking with her mind. He explained her injuries to her, and told her and Daryl that she could and should start walking and moving around frequently, because it would be good for her and help her get back on her feet quicker, and that she would be discharged in a few days, if nothing major happened until then. The doctor also told her that she was about 7-8 weeks along by now.

"But I took pregnancy tests about 5 or 6 weeks ago and they were all negative. And the doctor wasn't sure either just from the urine test."

"That's because your HCG levels were too low to be detected by those tests. Usually this points towards an eventual miscarriage..."

Bay gasped at that word as terror filled her. _Please not again!_

"... but your levels really went up in the past week. Guess the baby decided to make itself comfortable." Dr. Grimes smiled. "All looks good right now."

Bay exhaled in a rush and squeezed Daryl's hand while she felt almost dizzy from the relief that flooded her system.

Later that day, her friends Erin, Sam, Pat and Jessa stopped by. Daryl and Bay had decided to keep the happy baby news to themselves. Bay was superstitious and she wanted to stick to the "rule" to wait with telling people, until she had completed her first trimester. She was happy to see them and there were lots of heartfelt hugs and words of gratitude, but Bay felt slightly detached. The day had worn her out, and her mind was still racing a mile a minute. She wasn't able to get into all the conversations and the excited chatter of the girls. She only wanted to be with Daryl right now. Thankfully, she had the best boyfriend in the world. He sensed that it was too much for her, so he kicked them all out. Nobody was offended, though. They understood that Bay needed some more rest. She felt a bit bad, because they had all been wonderful to her, even when she had been in her induced coma, but she needed peace and quiet. Seeing Sam and Jessa alive, and not seeing adult Erin and Pat kiss, was still a weird experience, only a few hours after leaving that other world.

"I gotta go, too, sweetheart." Daryl tried to break the news as gently as possible, but he felt Bay tense up immediately.

"No! Please. Don't leave me here. Please!" Her panic was showing and it made his heart seize up painfully.

"I'm sorry, but I ain't allowed to stay the night. If I could, I would, I promise."

Bay bit her tongue as she tried to keep in the sobs. She knew it would be unfair to beg him to stay, because there was no way for him to be in that room without anyone noticing. She didn't want him to feel bad about having to leave her behind, so she forced herself not to plead with him any more. "Okay." It came out squeaky, and she immediately pressed her lips back into a hard line in an effort to not sob hysterically.

_Fuck, she's so scared... Oh baby, if there'd be a damn way... _Daryl was hurting. He actually had to fight his own tears, but there was no way around it. He embraced her, softly kissing the top of her head, and tried to calm her down. "I'll be back first thing in the morning. I promise. I'll bring ya something nice. I love ya..." Then, he had an idea. "Hold on." he smiled as he pulled away from her, only to take off his navy blue sweater. "I know it ain't the same, but in a way, if ya keep this with ya, I'll be here all night."

Bay nodded bravely as silent tears ran down her pale cheeks. She hugged the sweater to her as he kissed her one last time, with the nurse already standing in the doorway and clearing her throat, telling him to leave.

Once he was out of the room, Bay broke down and sobbed into his sweater. The nurse told her everything would be alright and that she should just sleep, but Bay wanted to avoid sleep under any circumstance. _What if I don't wake up? What if I wake up __**there**__? _However, her body had different ideas and eventually, her eyelids grew so heavy, that she lost the fight. As expected, she had nightmares and woke up crying and screaming. She was barely able to calm down. The night nurse was great, but she wasn't Daryl. She felt incredibly scared and alone, and all the crying drained her emotionally, as well as physically, which was why she fell asleep again eventually, only to have nightmares again, until the nurse was allowed to give her something that would help her calm down. It was hell, and from the next morning on, she took the doctor's advice and started getting up and moving around, so she wouldn't have to spend even a minute longer in the hospital than she had to.

* * *

It had taken 3 days longer than she had hoped for, but after a total of two whole weeks in the hospital, Daryl was finally able to take Bay home. The doctors had decided to keep her there until it was time to remove her stitches, mostly for her own safety. Once she had woken up, the physicians had quickly learned that Bay was a very strong-willed young woman, who worked hard at achieving anything she set her mind to, sometimes forgetting her own limits in the process. She was recovering remarkably well, though. Her young age, being healthy in general, and her strong motivation and willpower surely contributed to that. However, before she had left, the doctors had advised her to take it easy for another month, hoping she would follow their recommendations, so she would give her body a chance to heal some more. Right now, though, she didn't want to think about doctors and their well-meaning suggestions. Right now, she just wanted to enjoy... and that she did.

Bay's hand reverently slid along the wooden banister as they ascended the stairs inside the building they lived in. Daryl let out a quiet laugh when Bay stopped and pressed her forehead and her nose against the wall, inhaling the old scent, which was a mix between musky and stale, like it was the most divine thing ever. It was cute to him, how insanely excited she was to be home and how she took everything in with wide-eyed wonder: the cars driving in the streets, the people bustling around on the sidewalk, people coming out of stores with their shopping bags, the radio playing... Daryl thought she acted, like she was seeing it all for the first time ever. He didn't understand, that in a way, she was.

"Come on." a gentle hand, placed on her side, urged her to keep going. She looked at him with a close-lipped smile before she leaned in for a quick kiss, then she kept going up the stairs and along the corridor, until they stood in front of their apartment door.

"My God..." Bay breathed with an incredulous shake of her head. _It really feels like I've last been here years ago, not 2 weeks ago..._

Daryl unlocked the door and opened it, then he wrapped his arms around her from behind and walked her inside, kicking the door shut with his foot. "Welcome home, baby girl." he grinned after pressing a kiss to her temple.

"I can't believe it." Tears stung her eyes, but a happy giggle bubbled up and out of her, as she held on to Daryl's arm with both hands. She was doing much better. In the past seven days, her psyche had recovered at least a little bit, and she was able to let herself smile, laugh and enjoy life. It would take a while until she had worked through everything, she knew she would have to seek professional help for that, but at least she felt more like herself again; like the "young" Bay. Finally being out of the hospital and no longer being confronted with the voices of Rick, Carol, Lori, Hershel and Beth, etc. should help her to put things behind her even more. As it had turned out, most of the women from her dream had been her nurses. Hershel and his daughter Beth had been volunteers from church. That's how everybody had found their way into Bay's nightmarish dream world. She had heard their voices and snippets of conversation and her brain had worked it all into her dream ."Oh my God! The apples are still there!" she pointed towards the fruit bowl on the breakfast bar, which were rotten by now. Daryl had spent so much time at the hospital, that all cleaning had been neglected. "I remember that I wanted to make a pie out of them before they'd start to rot."

"Got ya new ones." Daryl nodded over to the brown paper bags and wooden crates, which were sitting on the kitchen counter. As promised, he'd gone hunting and trading before he'd picked up Bay from the hospital, and he hadn't gotten around to unpacking everything yet. He'd only put away the foods that belonged into the fridge and the freezer. "Even traded some meat for other meat. We got chicken, turkey and beef in addition to venison this time. Uncle Jess shot himself some game, too, but his freezer's still pretty full, so he gave me some more meat to trade. He says hi and get well."

"That's sweet... I've never even met hi-" she cut herself off when her gaze traveled into the other direction. "Oooh! Our bed!" she walked out of Daryl's embrace and knelt on the bed, before she dropped her whole body down on it with a blissful sigh. "Mmmmmmmmmmmm... so good." she moaned as she buried her nose in her pillow. Daryl grinned and shed his jacket on his way to join her.

He crawled up her body, hovering over her as he kissed her with a little more spice, than he'd had during her hospital stay. Bay slid her hands up to his chest and made a happy, little noise at the back of her throat. "Feel good?" Daryl asked in a low voice, not quite sure himself if he meant being back in her own bed or him kissing her.

"Really good. You have no idea."

_Speaking of ideas... _Daryl thought he had a good one. "Hey, how 'bout we take a bath? Right now."

Bay's eyes widened with a gasp. A bath! She had forgotten that she had that luxury again. "Oh God, yes! Yes! Yes, yes, yes, YES!"

Daryl had to laugh at her excitement. "Alright, I figured you'd look forward to it, but I didn't think you'd be this happy."

"Are you kidding? We went six months without warm water." she giggled, not realizing what she was saying.

Daryl sobered up a little and cleared his throat. "Not quite, sweetheart."

"Oh... shit... yeah." Those dream-related things kept slipping out here and there, but it got a little less every day. It bothered her a little, but in this moment, it wasn't enough to ruin her good mood. "But hey, two weeks without a decent bath is long enough, too. I need to wash the hospital smell off of me."

"I'm on it." he said as he started to crawl off the sofa-bed, only to be stopped by his girlfriend.

"No, I wanna do it!" She craved doing normal things, so she carefully scooted off the bed, being mindful of the big scar that ran right along the upper edge of her love handle on her left side. One bullet had hit her kidney, forcing the doctors to remove it. It was healing well, but was a little tender, still. She went into the bathroom and turned on the faucet, adjusting the hot and cold water until the temperature was just right, before she assembled her beloved candles and started lighting them.

Daryl walked up behind her. He pushed her hair aside to rest over her left shoulder and nuzzled the back of her neck, before he pressed a tender kiss against the warm skin. "Mmmm..." he moaned quietly, before she felt him grin against her skin. "But yeah, ya really smell like hospital."

Bay laughed and reached behind her to poke his ribs, making him jump and release an involuntary giggle. The sound was music to her ears. She turned around and impulsively wrapped her arms around his middle and kissed him passionately. Daryl groaned as her tongue curled around his own and made him weak in the knees. His hand slid up her back, lightly digging his fingertips into her shoulders, and pulling her flush against his solid form. "I missed you so much." Bay whispered against his lips. Her hands came back around to his front, pushing his t-shirt up. Daryl helped her along and took it off completely, burying his hands in her dark hair when she kissed along his collarbones.

"Ungh... damn, girl..." Daryl bit out when he felt Bay's thumbs circle his small nipples. Carefully, he grasped the hem of his sweater, she was wearing, and pulled it off her body. He grunted in frustration, when his view of her naked torso was blocked by yet another layer of cotton.

"Guess I'm not the only one who's a liiittle impatient, am I?" Bay giggled against his skin while she kissed a path down the middle of his chest.

"No... but didn't the doc tell ya to wait?"

"Yes. But that doesn't mean that we can't do anything at all." she dug her teeth into her bottom lip and grinned up at him.

"A loophole, huh? I like it."

"Take it off." she tugged at his belt with a smile. "Bath is ready."

Bay turned off the water, then she proceeded to undress herself. Looking down at herself and seeing her younger body was as weird as it was happiness-inducing. The big scar on her waist bothered her a little, but at least she was alive, and she knew, that Daryl would never judge her for her appearance. Daryl silently actually admired her battle scars. They just showed what an indestructible fighter she was, and what kind of things she was able to overcome.

And he truly couldn't wait to see her with a round belly. _She's gon' be such a goddamn pretty momma..., _he thought to himself as he, once again, stepped up behind Bay, this time putting his hands on her still flat abdomen. "Think it's a boy or a girl?"

"I don't know and I don't really care. I just want it to be alright."

"Yeah." Daryl agreed. He lowered his head and kissed her shoulder, then he stepped around her and climbed into the tub first. With his helping hand steadying her, Bay joined him, and laid between his legs on her right side. Daryl looked down at her and took in how enticing her nude body looked in the candlelight. He couldn't help himself. His wet, right hand slid up her belly and cupped and squeezed her left breast. Bay's eyes fluttered shut, and while her breathing deepened, she blindly sought out his mouth, to exchange toe-curling kisses. Her own hand slid up his wet chest and further up to his neck, holding him to her as his tongue skillfully and passionately massaged hers. She moaned into his mouth, when his thumb swiped across her nipple, making it harden instantly. He loved that feeling, and kept playing with the stiffened bud, knowing how much it got her going to have her sensitive breasts played with.

Daryl wasn't the only one who knew what his partner liked, though. "Awww fuck, baby girl..." he tore his mouth away from hers and groaned loudly when he felt her palming his balls. "Mmmmm, damn... fucking good."

"May I pleasure you?" Bay asked in that innocent way, she sometimes still had about her, almost making him blow his load on the spot.

"Sweetheart, you can do with me whatever the hell ya want, so, fuck yeah!" he pressed out. "But I wanna do ya, too." He let his hand glide from her breasts down between her legs, growling quietly when he cupped her in his strong hand.

"Just a little." she reminded him. "Don't make me finish... Ooohh..." she gasped when two fingers penetrated her. Daryl pressed the heel of his hand against her mound, letting her grind down on his fingers and letting her grind against his hand a little, so she was in control and would stop when she felt she had to.

"Like that? That good?"

"Yeah, that's good." Bay breathed against his lips as she moved a little bit. "What about this?" she asked him when she moved her own hand up his shaft and rubbed her thumb across his tip, before she stroked her hand back down.

"Real good. Keep it up... just like that." he groaned with closed eyes. "Fuck yeah, just like that." He gave himself over to the pleasure her hands were inflicting. He stopped kissing her as his head fell back and his mouth fell open when his breathing turned into shallow panting. "Oh good God, yes... Fucking missed you... Missed yer hands... and yer mouth... and yer... pussy... Oh damn, baby... so good. Don't stop. Gon' make me cum real fast, baby girl... been too long." he breathed between panting for air.

Bay simply enjoyed the sight and the sounds and the sensations, soaking it all up like a sponge. She loved making him feel good. Seeing him so relaxed,... she had missed that like crazy. Dream Daryl had never truly been like this. While she worked her hand up and down his hard cock, she remembered the last time she had been with the older version of Daryl. The dream might have been messed up, but it had been good for some things... she was clear on what she wanted more than ever. It was making her prioritize differently. She looked up at him, watching his bliss-filled expression, and smiled. "Daryl?"

"Mh?"

"I wanna be with you forever... You know that?"

"Yeah... God yeah... forever, baby..." he groaned in his pleasure-filled haze.

"Will you marry me, then?"

Daryl's eyes snapped open in shock and he looked at her with them being as wide as saucers. He didn't know what had shocked him more, the fact that she had asked him to marry her or the fact that his orgasm was hitting him out of nowhere. So before he was able to give her an answer, he grunted and groaned out his pleasure, which made his dick contract in her grasp. She slowly kept stroking him through it, and giggled, when his incredulous gaze met hers. "Did ya jus'... holy fuck, girl... did you just ask...?" he asked under his breath, not knowing if he had truly heard her right.

"Yes. I asked if you'll marry me. And no, not just because of the baby."

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you?"

_You did... _"Who cares?"

"You're unbelievable." he laughed a little. "Where's that comin' from?"

"Maybe the dream made me realize what I truly want. The fact is, I don't wanna go to college anymore, Daryl."

"You don't?" Now he was even more shocked. College was her dream. It was what she had worked so hard for to achieve. "But... I don't get it... ya said goin' to college and being a shrink was your dream."

"Dreams can change." she told him what she had told Merle in her dream. "What we have is a dream. I'm happy. I don't feel like something is missing. I think I realized that even before the shooting, but I hadn't really taken the time to think about it before. All my grandmother wanted was for me to be happy. Before I met you, going to college would have made me happy. That's not the case anymore. I don't have a huge desire to go and do that anymore. I want what we have now. We have this apartment, we have steady jobs and the pay is decent enough for us to make a living together. We have a baby on the way now... College doesn't fit into all of that anymore, and that's completely okay with me. I want you and I want this baby, and I want us to be a real family, all of us with the same name... so... what do you say?"

"Hell yeah."

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Thoughts?**

**Man, I'm so surprised that most of you really loved it. I only lost one follower, lol. I thought it would be at least 10. Now, I wanna mention something. In previous stories, I always put a lot of focus on injuries and such, to make it more realistic, etc. This time, I'm kind of skipping over that a little bit, and I hope you don't mind too much. I mentioned Bay losing a kidney in the shooting, she also took a bit of damage to her carotid artery (which I haven't explicitly mentioned except for the bandage on her neck.) I'm not gonna extensively go into detail and describe side effects, recovery periods, etc. I am aware that usually people won't go around being able to do everything again after a short amount of time with those injuries. For once I'm taking a little bit of artistic liberty with the recovery period and I hope you can forgive me for that. **

**Special thank you to all those wonderful, wonderful people who left me a review:**

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	49. Chapter 50

**One month later**

Kneeling behind her, soothingly rubbing her back with one hand and holding her hair with the other, Daryl winced every single time Bay's lithe body heaved forcefully, as she vomited into the toilet. "Fuck, I'm sorry, sweetheart. I'm so sorry." Whenever he witnessed her bouts of morning sickness, he always apologized profusely for doing this to her. He hated seeing her suffer, even if it was for a good cause.

Bay lowered the lid, then reached up to flush before she rested her head on the cool toilet lid. "Ugh... I hate throwing up... Good God, I'm so tired. I've never been this tired my entire life. This baby is giving me narcolepsy or something, I swear." she groaned quietly with closed eyes.

"Nah..." Daryl laughed a little. "Your body's workin' a miracle, baby girl... Ain't that what the lady doctor said? It's true... and it takes a lotta work. She said it's gonna get better in a week or two."

"A week or two never seemed so long." Bay sighed and scrunched up her nose at the smell of her own breath that hit her nostrils.

"Pfff, try seein' your girlfriend in a coma for a week. Longest fucking week of my life."

"You're telling me... Was even longer for me."

"Right. Still can't imagine." Daryl murmured absently as he helped Bay get up. She desperately wanted to brush her teeth. She made her face and prodded at her cheeks with her fingers, when she saw her pale reflection in the mirror.

"Good Lord, how do you even want to kiss me these days? I look like death on legs."

"You're beautiful." Daryl smiled and handed her the toothbrush.

"I love you." Bay managed a little smile. "I'm so sorry I woke you up again."

"Don't matter."

"It does. You have work... and I can go back to sleep. Thank God for that."

"Ya know, getting' knocked up when ya did was probably the best thing for ya." Daryl chuckled as he rested his hands on her abdomen, and watched her brush her teeth in the mirror.

"Why's that?"

"It's makin' ya rest just as much as you're s'pposed to anyway."

"You might not be entirely wrong. Usually I would have gone out of my mind by now with not being able to work, but with the sickness and fatigue, I'm so grateful to be able to take a nap whenever I want to." Bay was talking around a mouthful of minty foam from the toothpaste, before she finally rinsed and spit. "Gonna have to go back soon, though. We need the second income... and the third."

"Once ya feel better, we're gonna have to figure some things out... with your jobs and the apartment and stuff... Can't work two jobs no more, Bay. You shouldn't."

"I know." Bay nodded and started yawning. "I still hope the doctor I'm seeing this afternoon will clear me for work."

"We'll see. Come on, then. Sleep some more." Daryl guided her back to the sofa bed and laid down with her. Once Bay was resting comfortably on her back, Daryl's hand immediately traveled to her abdomen. "Still no belly..." he sighed. He couldn't wait for her to start showing, so he constantly felt up her belly, trying to detect if there had been any growth over night. Bay had gained some weight by now, her waist had thickened up a bit, so her jeans really weren't very comfortable anymore, but no bump yet. Daryl's hand slipped a little lower and his fingers gently pressed down, feeling around a little, until he gasped. "There!"

"Push down in that spot again and we're gonna have ourselves a problem. That's my bladder. I forgot to pee." Bay stated matter-of-factly, making Daryl's hope deflate again.

"Oh..."

"Relax, my love. You're gonna see it on the ultrasound tonight. God, so much to do today and all I wanna do is avoid getting up."

"Go and pee,... then you can avoid getting up for another couple of hours." Daryl kissed her cheek with a chuckle, and softly pushed her to roll over and sit up. He watched her with his baby blue eyes, which were twinkling with love and happiness. He was so in love with her, he felt like he might burst any day now.

He waited until Bay returned from the bathroom, then he tucked her back in and cradled her small form in his strong, protective arms, before he let himself drift off to sleep for a little longer.

* * *

"Is it normal that she still ain't got no belly yet?" Daryl asked during Bay's check-up at night, making the doctor smirk with amusement.

"It's still early, and like I told you before, Daryl, it's different for everybody. Some women barely show at all during the entire pregnancy, while others pop pretty early on. Be happy for Bayanne, if she doesn't start showing too soon. A big belly is heavy and uncomfortable, and you won't be able to help her with lugging it all around for half a year."

"Is it really that bad?" Bay asked the older woman. She had never been around any pregnant women, and she had never really thought much about what pregnancy would be like, so she really had no idea what to expect.

"You want the sugar-coated version or the truth?"

"Truth, please."

"Even if you breeze through your pregnancy with no major issues or complications, there will come a time, mostly when you're about 7-8 months along, when everything will start to suck. Your belly will get bigger and bigger and the weight is really gonna start to press down on your entire pelvis. You'll feel it in your lower back and even in your thighs. Your breasts will get bigger, maybe even a lot bigger, so that will make your upper back hurt. Walking around will get uncomfortable, but sitting and laying down will be even more uncomfortable, because the weight and pressure will put a strain on your bones. Not to mention the baby moving around and kicking. You will barely be able to sleep anymore, because everything will hurt and ache, and you will probably be pretty pissed off at everything all the time... but that's still a couple of months away, so enjoy being pregnant for as long as you can."

"Hm... I worked at the carpet mill for quite some time... I can deal with pain and discomfort." Bay shrugged, but Daryl swallowed hard. Just like Bay, he didn't have the slightest clue about pregnancies, but he had imagined that it was a real nice time, once that morning sickness and fatigue was gone. The picture that the doctor had just painted, wasn't really a pretty one, though. The last thing he wanted was for Bay to suffer. She had been through enough already.

"You'll be fine." The doctor winked at her encouragingly. "Now look at that little baby. Beautiful." she pointed towards the screen of the ultrasound machine.

"Shit... It's so much bigger than last time." Daryl grinned happily.

"Well, that's how it's supposed to be, baby." Bay giggled and held on to his hand.

"Looks like a bean."

"Yeah, a little kidney bean." Bay agreed.

The doctor smiled. "It's a bit bigger than a bean, though. It's just about 2 inches now... About the size of a lime. And you'll be happy to know that everything looks fantastic so far. How are you feeling? Any problems you want to discuss?"

"No, I'm alright. Just tired and still a bit of morning sickness." Bay reported while the doctor finished up the exam.

"You are 12 weeks along now, so I'd say that will most likely pass in a week or so. Some mothers experience morning sickness for a while longer, but for most, it's like it magically disappears as soon as they enter their second trimester. Hang in there."

The appointment was over and Bay was able to get dressed again. "When we're home, I'll really need a root beer float." Bay announced as soon as they had left the clinic.

"Amazing..." Daryl laughed and shook his head. Those pregnancy cravings were the real deal, and it was kind of fascinating to him. "Ya used ta hate root beer."

"I know. I still think it smells disgusting, but I feel like I might die from frustration if I don't get it. Weird." Bay had to laugh at it, as well. The whole thing really was crazy.

"That mean you don't wanna go see our friends now?"

"No, I do wanna see them. I'm just saying, when we get home, I need that float."

"You're gon' get it, baby girl. Promise. What did the other doc say?" Daryl had still been at work when Bay had had the appointment with the other doctor, who had checked on the wounds from the shooting.

"He said that I'm allowed to go back to work aaaaaaand..." she grinned and whispered the rest with reddened cheeks, "... resume sexual activity."

"Fuck... ya sure that ya wanna go see our friends?" Daryl smirked and squeezed her hand.

"Yes. No more playing hermits. We have wonderful and loyal friends, and we're lucky to have them. No more neglecting them. Never again."

"Ain't arguing with that..." he smiled and leaned down, gently biting her earlobe real quick. "but man... I really wanna make ya cum... been six damn weeks."

"Exactly... we can wait a couple more hours." Bay smiled and kissed his sexy lips, before she dragged him to his truck.

"I hate waiting." Daryl laughed, but at the same time he knew, that some anticipation often made the whole thing even sweeter.

* * *

Erin had her arms slung around Bay's middle, hugging her, only slightly taller, friend, and leaning against her. They were a lot closer again after having been on tense terms for a bit, because Daryl and her had pretty much neglected their group of friends for a good three months. Now, Bay made sure that they would always make some time to spend with their chosen family. "The scar looks better every week." Erin smiled as she looked at the long strip of raised flesh, that now adorned the side of Bay's neck.

"It does. The other one, too. Maybe in a year or so, if I'm lucky, they will be barely visible... Although, Daryl seems to be into them, kinda..." Bay laughed.

"Because he's head over heels in love with you, Bay. You could dress up as Ronald McDonald and he'd be totally into it."

"Oh my God... that's quite a visual." Bay shook herself at the slightly disturbing image that popped up inside her head.

"Just like me kissing Pat. I still can't believe that you paired us up in your dream." Erin teased her gently. Over the past couple of weeks, Bay had slowly started to open up a little about what she had gone through in her dream. Nobody really understood it, but they did their best to support her while she worked through it.

"It's not like **I **paired you up on purpose. It just happened."

"Still having nightmares?"

"Yeah. The doctor said it might take a while until those go away. Usually he'd prescribe me something to help me sleep better, but he can't, because of the b-" Bay quickly cut herself off. She tried to play it cool, but her eyes widened involuntarily when she realized that she had probably just blabbed their secret. And of course,... Erin perked right up and narrowed her eyes at Bay.

"He can't prescribe you anything, because of the what? Oh my God, Bay..." she loosened her hold around Bay's waist, only to grab her friend by the arms. "Bay, are you... oh my God, you are, aren't you? Are you?" Erin was whispering, but even her whisper-voice got higher and higher the more excited she got.

"Shhhhh... please..." Bay looked around in a panic, trying to see if anyone was paying any attention to them. "Don't say anything, please! We wanted to wait another week until the first trimester was over, before we let people know."

Erin's eyes widened even more. "You're that far along already? Oh my God... it happened before the shooting? Is everything alright?"

"Right now everything looks good. They probably won't be able to find out, if the drugs they gave me affected the baby until it's born and a little older."

"Let's hope there's nothing to find out. Oh God,... usually I wouldn't get excited for someone to have a baby this young, but for you and Daryl, it just feels... I don't know... so **right**... Does that make sense? I'm so happy for you guys. Are you happy?"

"We are. We really want it. Actually, we always said that we would wait a couple of years, until we're older and everything, but now that it's happened, we both want it. We're excited." Bay smiled brightly, causing Erin to get teary-eyed, because her friend was so happy and because she was happy for her friend.

Erin hugged her hard and smiled into her ear. "Congratulations, you two. You're gonna rock this. Both of you."

"I hope so. At least we won't have to worry about money. The doctor said that the baby costs roughly 10,000 dollars during it's first year of life, so we might just have the first **three **years of its life covered. That's a relief." Bay even sounded relieved when she said it. It was one less thing to worry about, especially since she would give up one of her two jobs.

"You're gonna use the money for school? But what about college?"

"I don't really wanna go anymore. I'm happy the way things are going right now. I'm not scrapping those plans because of the baby, I haven't felt the desire to go back to school for some time. I wanna work and make a living and for once enjoy the perks of the money I'm making."

"No more saving every single penny?" Erin grinned and gently tickled Bay's ribs.

"No. Well, we're still gonna try to save money... Daryl and I agreed that we'd both put a hundred bucks each into our piggy bank every month, and he will still do the hunting and trading thing, but yeah, the rest we earn, we're finally gonna put to good use and allow ourselves some little luxuries here and there. Like indulging my cravings." Bay giggled.

"You have those?"

"Oh yeah. Right now it's root beer floats and cantaloupes."

"You hate root beer."

"Apparently our baby loves it." Bay smiled and unconsciously rubbed her hand over her belly.

While the girls talked some more, they were unaware of the fact, that some of the guys' eyes were indeed on them... Pat and Sam were leaning against the truck-bed of Sam's truck, their poses mirroring each other, both had their legs crossed and their arms crossed over their chests, while they held a beer can in their left hand.

Sam groaned quietly when Erin hugged Bay again and rubbed her hands over Bay's back. "Mmmm, damn..."

"What?" Pat chuckled, even though he was able to guess what Sam meant.

"Just look at 'em. When they feel each other up like that, all huggey and lovey with each other... man, that shit gets me fucking hard."

"Where's Erin stand on threesomes?"

"No way in hell." Sam sighed with a twinge of disappointment in his expression, which caused Pat to laugh.

"You really wouldn't mind sharin' your girl?"

"With another girl? No. With another dude? Hell yeah, I'd mind."

"I wouldn't share Jessa at all. I mean, when her and Erin kissed that one time at Flanagan's party? Man, that was hot as hell and I wouldn't mind being able to watch that again,..."

"Jesus fuck, dude!" Sam exclaimed, having Pat laugh out loud. "Ya had to bring that up, huh? Damn, gonna punch a hole in my fucking pants." Sam grumbled under his breath as he reached down to adjust himself.

"Anyway... watching them kiss is fucking hot, but that's as far as I'd go. Would take my girl home and fuck her senseless all by myself. And I'm pretty sure Daryl feels the same about Bay." Pat finished his sentence after Sam's interruption.

"Too bad... I mean, have ya looked at Bay lately?"

"She's lookin' good." Pat smiled as he checked out Daryl's girl.

"Yeah. Seems like not working her ass off for once, is doin' her body good. Literally. She's got an ass on her now."

Pat nodded his agreement. "Yeah... getting some curves. She's fillin' out her jeans nicely these days."

"I'll say..." Sam agreed and slightly tilted his head to the side to check out the brand new curve of Bay's butt... Until something, or someone, stepped into his line of vision. Sam straightened, only to be met with the icy stare of one Daryl Dixon.

"Busted." Pat laughed, even though Daryl had caught him staring as well.

"Keep your fucking eyes off **my **girl." Daryl growled and pushed Sam for good measure.

Sam wasn't offended. His lips stretched into an amicable smile, while he held his hands up in surrender. "Calm down, man. We got our own girls, remember? We were just looking. She looks good, man. After everything... it's nice to see."

Daryl was torn. On one hand he was proud that other men were admiring his girl, but at the same time, he fucking hated that other men were admiring his girl. Of course he knew that Pat and Sam both had their own girlfriends, who they loved very much, but the way they just ogled Bay, that was driving him up a tree. He would never stare at Erin or Jessa like that, out of respect for the two guys, but apparently, he was the only one around these parts, who lived by that code. He felt like he had to re-stake his claim, so before he knew what he was doing, he was marching over to Bay and Erin.

Bay smiled when she noticed Daryl approach. "Hey ba-mmph." She didn't get the chance to finish her greeting. Daryl's fingers threaded through her dark locks at the back of her head, pulling, to tilt her face up to meet his. A small moan escaped Bay's lips as Daryl engaged her in a sizzling kiss. He pulled at her bottom lip with his teeth, before he let the tip of his tongue slooowly and hotly lick along the seam of her mouth. He had her knees turned into jello by the time his tongue pushed in between her soft, full lips, to curl passionately around hers. While Erin made herself scarce, Daryl released Bay's hair from his grasp and instead, both his hands glided down her back, until his hands were filled with her firm butt. He growled into the kiss, as he squeezed possessively, and used his grasp to pull her flush against him. "Are ya mine?"

Bay nodded frantically as she looked up at him with dazed eyes. "Yeah..." she bit out, before he kissed her once more, drawing her tongue into his mouth in order to give it a quick suck.

"Mine. All mine. Both of ya." he murmured under his breath while he rested his forehead against hers. After she had nodded her agreement, Daryl straightened and shot Pat and Sam a dirty look. Unfortunately, it didn't really have the desired effect, because the two men were smirking and jokingly showing him a thumbs up. Daryl finally relaxed again and shook his head with an amused grunt.

"What?" Bay asked while she tried to gather her bearings.

"Nothin'. All good." he looked down at her with a smile and kissed her forehead, before his lips traveled to her ear. "Ready to go home yet? Gonna make ya cum on my dick so good, baby girl."

"Oh God, yes please." Bay shuddered, but then she bit her lip and looked up at him sheepishly. "But Daryl?"

"Hm?"

"I'm gonna need that root beer float first."

A little laugh burst out of Daryl's mouth at that. _Goddamn, she's just too fucking cute. _

"Anythin' ya want, baby girl."

* * *

"Uh..." Bay cried out, her body jerking involuntarily, as the icy cold, frothy root beer/ice-cream mixture dropped onto the scorching hot skin of her right nipple. She hissed next, when Daryl used the back of the silver long drink spoon to spread it all around her nipple, teasing the puckered flesh with the smooth, cool metal in the process. Her nipples tightened almost painfully, but the slight ache was quickly soothed by Daryl's hot, wet mouth. His tongue circled and flicked, then he suckled at her, pulling his head back at the same time, in order to let her breast pop back out of his mouth.

"Mmmmmm,... should be a damn ice cream flavor or somethin'." Daryl grunted under his breath. The mix of root beer, vanilla ice cream and Bay was quickly becoming a new favorite. He dipped the spoon into the glass once more and repeated his actions on her left breast, making Bay almost drop the glass she was still holding in her hand. What he was doing felt so good, and it truly had been way too long since she had been able to just let herself go and give herself over to the pleasure he so freely gave her. "Fuck... ya hear that, baby girl? One of the best damn sounds in the whole damn world." he growled against her heated flesh, as he referred to the wet, squishing sound his fingers were making, while they slid through her well-lubricated folds.

Bay blushed and put the glass on the nightstand, Daryl had built for them a little while back. Despite all the things they had done in bed by now, and despite how much she enjoyed him talking dirty to her, she still got a bit embarrassed by it all. Right now, she was especially embarrassed by the obscene smacking sounds her liquid arousal was causing, while Daryl played with her pussy. She was ridiculously wet, which , in turn, had Daryl's cock being ridiculously hard. He slowly maneuvered his own naked body between Bay's legs, slowly nudging them further apart to make room for him. "You're so fucking wet, sweetheart. Ya missed me, huh?" Daryl spoke with an impish grin on his lips. "Missed me playin' and takin' my time with ya, didn'tcha?" This had actually been Bay's third root beer float since they had come home. Daryl had fixed her the first one, then he had peeled them both out of their clothes and had kissed every single inch of her body, while she had enjoyed her cold drink.

Once she had emptied her glass the first time, Daryl had fixed her a second float, before he had settled himself on his belly between her legs, taking his time with laving her inner thighs and letting the tip of his tongue dance along the creases, where her long legs met her pussy, making her squirm, and moan in pleasure, when he left some hickeys on the fleshy part, high up on her inner thigh. She would feel those every single time she would move around tomorrow, and that knowledge satisfied him deeply. He hadn't licked her, where she had wanted it the most, though. He wanted her first orgasm since the shooting, to be with him inside of her, coaxing it out of her with his dick, having her contracting muscles milk his own release from him. Now that she had almost completely finished the third glass, they were both more than ready, to be fully reunited again.

"Please... Please, Daryl..." Bay pleaded with him, to finally give her what she had been craving for weeks.

"Please what, baby girl?"

"Please take me."

"That all ya want?" he breathed hotly against her jaw, before he let her feel his teeth. At the same time, he was rubbing his heavy erection against her soft pussy, while having to will himself not to cum all over it already.

"No." Bay shuddered and let her hands glide down his back, until her hands were able to cup and squeeze his perfect, sexy ass.

"Want me ta make ya cum?" Daryl groaned quietly. He loved when she squeezed his ass.

"Yes."

"Ask me for it."

"Please, Daryl. Make me... cum." she mumbled with burning cheeks.

"Good Lord." Daryl grunted as a fresh wave of arousal rolled over him and damn near threatened to drown him. His dick was twitching and throbbing dangerously hard. He knew it would take him every bit of control he had, to make this last longer than two damn minutes. "Oh ssshhhiiiittt..." Daryl groaned loudly, matching Bay's long whine in volume, when he pushed into her slippery core with one smooth thrust. She was clenching around him already. Her velvety, wet walls had to get adjusted to his intrusion again. He'd fingered her a little in the past couple of weeks, but his cock was much bigger than two of his digits. There was a short moment of pinpricks for Bay, but if anything, it only made the pleasure she felt, a bit sweeter.

"Yes... Oh God, yes, baby..." she keened as Daryl's hips started moving at an even pace. Slow and steady at first, but quickly picking up some speed.

"Want it deep?" he was panting against her ear, hoping to the heavens that she would say yes, because the urge to bottom out inside of her was so strong, that he felt like he might die from frustration if he wouldn't get to do it.

Bay nodded, already moving her legs up, to rest on his wide shoulders. Daryl knelt up and pressed a kiss to the inside of her knee. First on the left, then on the right. His hands slid from her knees, down over her thighs, then he leaned forward and supported himself on his hands next to her head, bending Bay like a pretzel in the process. "That okay? It hurt?" Daryl wanted to be sure that the scar on her waist wouldn't cause her pain in this position.

"It's perfect. Move,... good God, please move, Daryl."

And move he did. He slid in deeper, until all of his length had disappeared inside of her, and he felt the end of her pressing against his tip. Bay gasped and dug her nails into his biceps. It took a short moment to get used to the sensation of having him all the way inside of her again, but then it felt heavenly. Daryl pulled out slowly, oh so slowly, letting her feel every delicious inch of him, before he stroked his cock back inside of her with a practiced snap of his hips, ripping a yelp from Bay's throat. He repeated the motions, again and again, faster and faster, until he was plowing into her at a quick, frenzied pace, fucking her good and hard. Bay rewarded him with the best sounds. She was whimpering, moaning, crying out, screaming... he only faintly recognized the banging on the wall and the neighbors voices, complaining about the noise, he could not care less about their neighbors being pissed, the only noises he was fully focused on, were those which accompanied their lovemaking, plus his and God's name on Bay's lips.

"Oh God, Daryl... I'm gonna... oh God, oh God, oh God..." Bay was panting heavily, and the next thing he knew, he felt her teeth dig into his wrist, just before her pussy clamped down on him in a vice grip. The contractions were intense and long, feeling like they were pulling him deeper into her body.

"Ffffuuuuck..." he yelled out, as his lips pulled back into a snarl and he grimaced from the intensity of his own climax. His cock was spasming violently inside of her, making him rut against her hard, before he collapsed on his forearms, careful not to crush her with his weight. "Jesus fucking Christ... You alright?"

"Mmmm..." was the only answer he got. Daryl lifted his head from where he had pushed his face into the crook of her neck, and saw that she looked like she had passed out. But she had replied, so she was probably still conscious... barely, though.

"Sure you're okay?"

"Mm." she grunted quietly, but she didn't move. Daryl figured she was exhausted from the long day she'd had. He lovingly kissed her forehead, before he slowly pulled out of her and moved to lay next to her.

"Sleep tight, sweetheart. Love ya." he was still slightly out of breath as he pulled the covers over them, but his breathing soon evened out, and they were both asleep within minutes. While they slept, Daryl's hand rested on her abdomen, instinctively already protecting his unborn child.

* * *

**Thank you for reading!**

**Well, I was wrong. Only my reviewers loved my coma twist, because reader numbers are WAY down. Like half, lol. But I don't even mind, which is surprising to myself, but I guess that's because I stand by my creative decisions. The hate mail I get on tumblr is crazy, though. Thank God for the new block feature.**

**Tell me what you think.**

**Special thanks to the lovely reviewers:**

**DarylDixon'sLover**

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	50. Chapter 51

_Oh man... not again! Down boy! _Daryl was groaning inwardly when he felt his cock twitch happily inside his sweatpants, when he was able to look down Bay's shirt, as she was leaning forward slightly, in order to take off her shoes.

It was official, Daryl was back to being 13 years old again. What that meant? It meant, that he was walking around with an erection pretty much non-stop these days...

Another month had passed, and Bay was now four months along in her pregnancy. She still didn't have a "real" protruding bump, instead her belly looked, like it was just heavily bloated. When she wore one of his t-shirts, she still didn't look pregnant at all, but since she was proud of her little belly, she wore her tight, form-fitting shirts, that fully displayed the cute curve. She didn't have to hide it anymore, everybody knew by now, and everybody was very happy for them, and excited for the new arrival. The first baby in their group... Somehow, it had all of them looking forward to it.

In the past couple of weeks, Daryl had quickly realized, that the cliché was true: pregnant women fucking glowed. Bay was glowing. She looked healthier than he'd ever seen her. He wasn't able to put his finger on it, but she looked even more beautiful than before, and her little belly was so fucking cute... he couldn't help but touch and kiss it all the time. It also filled him with pride. That was his baby in there... she was actually having his baby, and she was happy about it. He loved her more and more every day, he was honestly able to say that.

Like all of that wasn't already enough to make him lust after her like fucking crazy, Mother Nature had decided to top it all off with one more thing... What she was still missing in the belly-department, she had made up for in the boobs-department. Bay had gone from a small B-cup up to a D-cup, and that was already starting to get a bit too small, as well. The doctor had told them that she might not be done growing yet, and Daryl couldn't wait to see how much bigger they would get. He had always loved her tits, which had been a nice handful, and he'd always thought they were perfect and just right, but he couldn't deny the fact that the changes were turning him on to no end. Her boobs were so full, so round and so heavy now, he was never able to get his fill. She was killing him. One look at her and his dick started growing to stand up at full attention within the shortest amount of time. Every free minute was spent cupping, rubbing, massaging, squeezing, kissing, licking and sucking the delicious globes, and when he wasn't with her, Bay and her fantastic boobs were on his mind all the time, making him have to adjust himself constantly. Just like he had to right now...

Bay looked up with a grin when she heard him groan, her eyes immediately drawn to the tent in his loose sweatpants. "Again? Really?"

"Can't help it if ya look like fuckin' sin, girl. Damn,... I **just **whacked off in the tub..." Daryl sighed, sounding a little miserable, while he rubbed his face hard with his hands. He hated not having more control over himself. Usually he was pretty good at keeping himself in check, but lately? Not so much. He wanted her all the damn time. He wasn't able to stop thinking about it, the image of her bouncing tits kept flashing up inside his mind over and over again.

"Hmmm,..." Bay bit her lip and grinned sexily as she slowly walked over to where Daryl was sitting on the edge of the sofa-bed. "Too bad you didn't wait... would have been a nice after-work-treat to watch..."

"You can watch right now, babe." he groaned low in his throat. His hands were already pushing her work t-shirt up, and he pressed a gentle, loving kiss to her rounded belly, before he pushed the shirt up over her bra-clad breasts. He didn't even wait until she had pulled it off all the way, he couldn't wait, so he pushed his face into her ample cleavage right away. "Mmmmmmmm..."

"I love being pregnant." Bay laughed quietly, and buried her hands in his wild, but soft hair. "Ever since these puppies got so big, I've been making enough tips to get our kid through college."

"Fucking bastards... can't say I can blame 'em, though." Daryl mumbled against her boobs. "Everybody's all over ya lately... It's makin' my fists itch somethin' awful, girl."

"Is it bad, that I think it's hot when you get jealous?"

"Not if it gets me laid." he looked up at her with a cute, cheeky grin.

Bay laughed and leaned down to kiss him. "Are you very hungry?"

"Not for food right now."

"That's what I thought." Bay reached behind her and unclasped her bra with a giggle.

"Fuck..." Daryl sighed joyfully as he brought his hands up to cup her full breasts.

Bay hissed when he started squeezing. "Careful! Not too hard. They're a little sensitive today."

"Sorry." he murmured apologetically. He looked up at her, right into her eyes, and slowly opened his mouth and circled her nipple with the tip of his tongue. "That better?"

"Yeah." Bay moaned quietly. She pushed him back a little and straddled his lap. Her lips traveled along his jaw and up to his ear, while Daryl's hands carefully caressed her beautiful tits. "Remember that movie we watched on my birthday? The porno?" She whispered into his ear. Daryl's breath hitched in his throat in response. He suddenly got the feeling like he was in for a good night.

"What about it?"

"There was this scene... in that bedroom... You know,... the guy put his... between her breasts?"

Daryl almost came in his sweat pants, when he caught her drift. _Oh holy goddamn mother of fuck! She's gon' let me fuck her tits! _"Ya want me to fuck these?" he asked as he traced the pad of his thumbs across her nipples, wanting to make sure that they both meant the same thing. "Ain't gon' do much for you, I guess."

"You know I love giving you pleasure, Daryl." she said with a little embarrassed smile. "And knowing you, you'll return the favor anyway, so I'm not worried about me not getting anything out of it."

"You ain't wrong." he smirked. "C'mere."

Bay matched his smirk and gladly let herself be pushed down onto the bed, happy to just lay back and let him ravage her. She would be lying if she would say she didn't enjoy how much he enjoyed all the changes that were happening. She had never felt more wanted, and she loved it.

* * *

Two nights later, they were once again cuddled up together on their bed, naked, satisfied and happy. Daryl's warm hand gently stroked Bay's baby belly in a circular motion, having his fiancée laying on her back with her eyes closed, and a blissful smile on her face. Daryl was on his side, propped up on his elbow, while he rubbed her swollen abdomen, and looked down at her with a smile of his own. "Are ya nervous 'bout tomorrow?"

"Yeah." Bay's smile widened and her eyes opened. "But not about marrying you. Not at all... but I'm really nervous about if you're gonna like my dress or not."

"Yer kidding, right? You know you could wear a damn potato sack and you'd still be the prettiest girl in the world ta me... but shit,... Imma look like an idiot next to you."

"No, you won't. You're the most beautiful person in the world to me. Inside and out. Don't you know that? That's why I told you that you don't have to change anything about your appearance for the wedding. I just want you to feel comfortable and to be happy."

"Yeah... Ain't changin' ma hair, but I feel better about wearin' that shirt and tie instead of an old t-shirt and my camouflage cargoes... Especially with you havin' a real dress."

"You're gonna be drop dead gorgeous, baby." Bay smiled and kissed him soundly.

"Think Merle's gonna be there?" Daryl asked quietly, as he traced the motions of his hand on Bay's belly with his eyes. His face had taken on a slightly sad expression.

"No one has seen him in over two months..." Bay was disappointed for Daryl. He was hoping so hard that Merle would be there for his little brother's wedding day, but Bay was pretty sure, that Daryl's hopes would be destroyed.

"Yeah, he wanted to lay low after he got them damn Mexicans their money... But he's got all kinds of sources... maybe he heard... about us and the baby..."

"I think, if he had heard about it, he would have shown up here by now to give us a piece of his mind. He wouldn't have been able to help himself from staying away and keeping his mouth shut. I'm sure he would have some very colorful things to say about us getting married and starting a family."

"I should have looked for him..."

"Daryl, don't!"

"He's still family."

"Yeah, but he got himself into this mess. He left to lay low and abandoned **you. **Again. He needs to get his shit together. He can't keep going like this forever, because if he does, then that 'forever' is gonna be a very small time span." Bay ranted in a slightly raised voice, before she took a deep breath and tried to calm down. "I'm sorry, but he keeps doing this to himself. You can't help someone who doesn't want help."

"What if he's dead? What if his hand got infected and he wasn't able to get pills for that?"

Bay bit back a remark about how it was Merle's own fault that he'd gotten his finger removed by some drug lord's henchman. Instead, she took another deep breath and counted to 10. "Do you have any idea where he could be? If you do, we can check those places tomorrow morning, before we have to be at the courthouse."

"Ain't much time to get shit done before we have to be there..." Daryl shrugged a bit pessimistically.

"Do you want to postpone the wedding until we find him?" Bay asked, calm on the outside, but angry and depressed on the inside. She wanted to scream when Daryl looked at her with big, hopeful eyes

"Ya would do that?"

"Yes." she sighed deeply. "For you. I'd do almost anything to make you happy, including this. You want him to be there, that's pretty obvious by now... So we wait until we find him and drag his sorry ass back into town."

"Fuck, I love ya..." Daryl smiled and kissed her happily. "You're the best. You really are."

"Yeah, yeah..." Bay sighed after he released her, and turned her back on him. _Why do I love him so damn much? Why can't I be more selfish?_

"Tired?" Daryl smiled and kissed her shoulder.

"Mhm."

"Alright. Sleep tight, baby girl." he kissed her shoulder once more while he moved to spoon her.

"Yeah. You, too." Bay whispered with her eyes closed. She was incredibly tired all of a sudden. All of the excitement for their wedding was gone. It wasn't happening tomorrow, because of Merle and because she was weak where Daryl was concerned. She wanted to cry, but she was even too tired for that. She thought she might lay awake all night, despite being exhausted, but before she knew it, she had fallen asleep. It wasn't a peaceful sleep, though.

Her dream transported her back **there**. Back to the future, where there was only running away, fighting and the underlying fear of dying either a gruesome, painful, horrible death at the hand of the undead or an agonizingly slow death by dehydration and starvation. Bay relived a small portion of her coma dream that night, and woke up crying and gasping for air as fear and panic washed over her like a tidal wave.

Daryl, ever the light sleeper, shot right up with her and immediately started working on calming her down. "Sssshhhh, it's alright. Just a dream. Ya ain't there, Bay. You're here with me. That world ain't real. You're here, with our baby in your belly. It's all good."

Bay was barely listening to him. She shook her head at him and looked at him with wide, panicked eyes. "I can't wait."

"Wha'?" Daryl was confused.

"We're getting married tomorrow, Daryl. I can't wait. I can't do it. I'm sorry. Too much can happen. I lived it. I lived it again just now. Everything is ready. We are getting married tomorrow, with or without Merle. He's not gonna ruin this for us."

"But..."

"No but, Daryl. No. You can get up early, give yourself some time to go look for him, but I'll be getting ready for our wedding in the morning. I'll be at the courthouse at noon with our friends, and I hope that you will be there, too. That's all I can say about it."

"Of course I'm gonna be there, Bay. Are you kiddin'?"

"Sometimes I don't know what to think. You're like a puppy when it comes to Merle. Like an eager to please puppy. Yeah, I know the truth hurts. I know you don't wanna hear it, but that's how it is. I'm not holding it against you, he's the only blood family you have left... but... with the way he acts, how much meaning does that even have? Pat, Sam and the others, your other family, they have always been there for you. Always. Just like I will always be there for you. I think it's more important that they will be there later today. Don't you? Think about it."

It was the last she said, before she rolled back on her side, turning her back on him as she tried to go back to sleep. Daryl didn't say anything. He knew she was right, but he desperately wanted Merle to be there, too. Deep down, he needed Merle's approval. It was fucked up, but that was the way it was. Daryl couldn't help feeling that way. He would marry Bay one way or another, but he really, really wished that Merle would be by his side and share that moment with him.

"I'll be there no matter what. Ya know that, right?" Daryl asked quietly, but he didn't get an answer.

* * *

Daryl got up early and left Bay behind to sleep some more, while he drove over to Patrick's. He wanted to ask his best friend to help him go check out some places and look for Merle, but as it turned out, neither one of them would have to look far.

"Hey, sorry for waking ya up, man." Daryl apologized when a sleepy Pat opened the door for him. "I need yo-"

"Who the fuck comes ta see ya at fucking six in the mornin'? Oughta kick their teeth in." A very familiar voice grumbled from inside the apartment, making Daryl's jaw hit the floor.

"Merle? What the fuck?" Daryl quickly pushed the door open a little wider and entered the apartment. He eyed his older brother who was trying to get comfortable on the couch, before Daryl turned his wide eyes back on Pat. "The hell is goin' on? He been here the whole time? What the hell, man?"

"Relax!" Pat held his hands up, trying to placate his friend, who was about to throw a tantrum. "Was supposed to be a surprise." Pat put his hand on Daryl's shoulder and pushed him another couple of steps into the apartment, so he could close the door.

"Ah, baby brother... should'a known that was you. Always been a pain in the ass in the mornings." Merle grinned with sleepy eyes.

Daryl didn't return the grin. He was up in arms and utterly confused by the whole thing. "Where the fuck have ya been, Merle? And why ya here now?"

"Your little girlfriend over there tracked me down." Merle gestured towards Pat.

"I knew you would want him to be there when you got married,... so we started to look for him." Pat explained, rendering Daryl speechless and making his heart warm up. Pat knew him so damn well, he truly was like a brother... and a better one than Merle, as well.

"It's true then, huh?" Merle stretched his limbs and cracked his knuckles before he sat up. "Gettin' hitched to Miss Bayanne, yeah? And been stupid enough to put a damn bun in her oven?"

"Wasn't stupid. Wasn't planned, but wasn't stupid neither." Daryl defended himself.

"Ha!" Merle scoffed. "Maybe not planned by you..."

"Wasn't planned by Bay, neither. You know she wanted to go to college..."

_Hm, that's true..._Merle thought and shut up for a moment ."Ruining yer whole life at age 20, baby brother. Ya should know better."

"That's where you're wrong. That's what you don't get, Merle... I'm fucking **happy**. My life was ruined before, now it at least got some meaning. Imma be someone's husband. Imma be someone's daddy. And you can bet your methed-out ass, that Imma give it my best shot and be the best husband and daddy I can be. I want this. And I want ya to be there. But if ya can't shut up and have my back for once in your life, then ya gotta stay away. I mean it. I ain't gonna let you drag my family into some kind of shit of yours."

"Pfff, your family, huh? I'm your damn family, son."

"You're part of it. But you're not all I got. Never have been." Daryl told Merle the ugly truth, making his older brother swallow hard. "So what's it gonna be? You gonna stand by me today or what?"

"Yeah, yeah. Don't get your panties in a bunch. I'll be there." Merle sighed. "Still don't get how you ended up being like this. Thought I taught ya better. At least she's a decent one. Gotta give ya that."

"Don't ruin today for her. She's been through enough." Daryl half stated and half pleaded with his older brother.

This time it was Pat who scoffed. "Trust me, D, if he fucks this up, there'll be hell to pay. We got ya."

Daryl sent Pat a grateful nod. "Alright. I'm gonna head back and get ready."

"Best prepare yourself, D." Pat was grinning. "From what I hear, Bay looks damn pretty in her dress."

Daryl didn't respond. He was looking forward to seeing her in her wedding dress, but where he was concerned, Bay was the most beautiful being in the world, no matter what she was or wasn't wearing. No need to prepare for anything. He gave Pat another nod, before he turned around and opened the door. "See ya later. And thanks."

"Anytime." Pat smiled and closed the door behind him.

* * *

He should have listened to Patrick. He should have prepared for being hit with a sledgehammer of emotions. He didn't even know what was happening to him, but when Bay entered the courthouse in her wedding dress, with Erin and Jessa by her side, Daryl was absolutely blown away. He was speechless and he was overcome by intense emotions, all the while his head was gloriously empty. He was a little horrified to realize that tears were welling up in his eyes, and that he was absolutely unable to keep it from happening. "Shit!" he muttered as he lowered his head and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. Merle snickered, but he kept his mouth shut for once. Even he had to admit that Bay made a beautiful bride.

"Told you." Pat put a supportive hand on Daryl's shoulder, but he was grinning from ear to ear. He loved seeing Daryl so rattled. He understood where Daryl was coming from, though. Bay really looked beautiful in her white dress. If it would be him and Jessa, he would be on his knees, thanking the Heavens that he was allowed to marry such a stunning creature. "Come on, dude. Get it together and greet your bride."

Bay's face hurt from smiling so hard. Daryl looked gorgeous. He was dressed completely in black, and it suited him very much. He was wearing "nice" pants and leather shoes. His black button-up shirt fit him perfectly and was tucked into his pants. Initially he had wanted to wear a black tie as well, but ultimately, in a last-minute decision, he had decided he liked the outfit better without the tie. Bay loved the way he looked. He really pulled it off, and already, she couldn't wait to pull the clothes off his body later.

Daryl finally looked up to see her smiling face, and he was a little relieved to see tears brimming in her eyes as well. "Fuck, baby girl..." he said while his breath rushed out of him. "You're killing me here. Fucking look at you..."

"Look at me?" she giggled quietly. "Look at you, baby. Wow. You look so good in this."

Daryl leaned down to kiss her, but ended up kissing the back of Pat's hand instead. "What the fuck, man?" he frowned at his best friend while he wiped his lips.

"No kiss before you say your I do's." Pat grinned and ushered them into the room.

Bay's gaze fell on Merle and she paused for a moment, trying to shake off some images from her coma dream, before she was able to give him a smile. "Good to see you, Merle. It's nice to have you here."

"Ya look good." Was all he said as he looked her up and down, surprising everyone when he didn't say more than that.

"Thank you." Bay smiled and squeezed Daryl's hand. "Ready?"

"Been ready for 2 damn years." Daryl muttered with a little laugh, even though he hadn't even realized the full extent of his feelings until less than a year ago.

Bay smiled brightly at him and pulled their joint hands up to her face, pressing a kiss against the back of his hand. "Then let's go." she said, and after he had squeezed her hand once more, they walked up to the officiant.

* * *

The ceremony was nearing its end and it was time for the vows, just before they would exchange rings. Merle frowned when he watched Bay and Daryl lean close to each other.

"The fuck are they doin'?"

"They are whispering their vows into the others ear." Sam explained after he had quickly handed Erin a tissue.

"Why? Ain't they supposed to say 'em out loud and repeat after that guy?" Merle had never been to a wedding, but he'd seen some shit on TV, like everybody else.

"Usually, yeah. That's the way most people do it, but Bay and Daryl agreed that the promises they would make to each other were just meant to be heard by them... or something like that."

"Hm." Merle grunted and leaned back in his chair again. He was bored. He couldn't wait for this part to be over and get to celebrating with some free booze.

While their friends watched on, Bay was the first, to recite her vows to Daryl, trying hard not to sob and weep through them. "I believe in you, the person you will grow to be and the couple we will be together. You have been my best friend, mentor, playmate, confidant and my greatest challenge. But most importantly, you are the love of my life and you make me happier than I could ever imagine and more loved than I ever thought possible. From here on out, I promise to be your lover, companion and friend, your partner in parenthood, your ally in conflict, your greatest fan and your toughest adversary. Your comrade in adventure, your student and your teacher, your consolation in disappointment, your accomplice in mischief. I will love you, hold you and honor you, I will respect you, encourage you and cherish you, for all the days of my life."

Daryl swallowed hard, trying to keep up his own composure. Of course her vows were much better than his own, because she simply had a better way with words, but he knew that she, thankfully, didn't care about that. She knew that he loved her, and that no matter what he said, that it came from the heart and that he meant it. "Ya know me better than anyone else in this world... and somehow ya still have it in you to love me. I promise that I'll never take that for granted. I love ya, baby girl, and I promise that I'll always take care of you and our kid. I'll always put our family's needs first. No matter what. I'm yours... have been from the moment ya first smiled at me back at that party, even if I didn't know it until last year. I'll always be there and protect you and all that's ours. Promise."

Bay nodded slightly and quickly wiped at the tears, that had managed to escape. "I love you." she whispered, before the officiant asked them to exchange their rings.

"And by the power invested in me by the state of Georgia, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Mr. Dixon, you may kiss your bride." The officiant smiled and thereby finished the ceremony.

The guy had barely gotten the words out, when Daryl already threaded his fingers through Bay's long waves and pulled her in for a long and soulful kiss. Their friends clapped and hooted and cheered, but neither Bay nor Daryl, really registered their overjoyed pals. They were completely caught in the moment of sharing their first kiss as a married couple. Thinking back, if someone would have told them a year ago, that they would end up married and with a baby on the way, they both would have laughed in that person's face. She had been just a lonely girl behind a counter, working hard on making her dreams come true, having lost hope that something good would ever come along again. He had been just some guy, who had drifted around with his friends. A nobody, who'd painted numbers on the sidewalk in order to have a meal at night, never in a million years expecting someone to truly want him. They had both been in for a surprise. Bay and Daryl hated surprises, but what a wonderful surprise this one had been. Fate had brought them together, and without even thinking twice about it, they had healed, nurtured, supported, taught and, most importantly, loved each other.

The bond they created was a strong one. They were Bayanne and Daryl Dixon now, and nothing and no one would ever be able to break up their amazing union.

* * *

**THE END**

* * *

**Thank you to everyone who accompanied me on this incredible (almost year-long) journey.**

**Special thanks to the reviewers:**

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